United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas is giving in to “very important” issues in indirect negotiations between the terrorist group and Israel for a Gaza’s peace agreement.
“I have limits: If certain questions are not answered, this will not happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Hall when asked if he had imposed conditions, such as Hamas’s disarmament, to seal peace.
“I think we’re going very well and that Hamas is agreeing with very important things,” he added.
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Trump expressed optimism about the future of indirect negotiations in Egypt to end the war, according to his 20 -point plan. “I think we will come to an agreement,” although “they have been trying for years and years to reach an agreement … We will reach an agreement about Gaza, I’m almost sure, yes,” said the Republican.
The US president also denied reports that he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for his pessimistic view of the outcome of the negotiations.
Under pressure to end the war in Gaza after two brutal combat years, negotiators of Israel and Hamas gathered early on Monday, 6, with mediators in Egypt to start discussing a comprehensive Peace Plan presented by Trump last week.
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Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said on Monday afternoon that “technical conversations” were underway in Egypt, involving “parts of all sides.”
Indirect conversations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, will probably focus on two aspects of Trump’s 20 points: the exchange of Palestinians held by Israelis for hostages captured in the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war, and the Israeli withdrawal from parts of Gaza.
Leavitt told reporters at a press conference at the White House that the teams were in Egypt to discuss this exchange. “They are reviewing the list of Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners that will be released, and these negotiations are underway,” she said.
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“All sides of this conflict agree that this war must end, and agree with the structure of 20 points proposed by President Trump.” The negotiations, she added, were an “incredible achievement.”
Israel believes that about 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza and also seeks the remains of another 25. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, 5, that Hamas had “agreed with the president’s hostage liberation agreement.”
According to this plan, the hostages will be exchanged for 250 Palestinian prisoners who fulfill perpetual penalties and 1,700 Gaza residents arrested by Israel during the war. For each hostage whose remains are released, Israel will also free the remains of 15 residents of Gaza.
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Although the plan predicts hostage release within 72 hours after Israel’s agreement, this would be logistically difficult, experts say. And both sides have not yet reached an agreement on which Palestinian prisoners will be released.
Thus, it is still unclear whether there is agreement on all aspects of the plan, as initially presented.
On Friday, 3, Hamas said he was willing to release the hostages. But the terrorist group did not address the main points of the American Peace Plan, including the demands to which it was opposed in the past. The proposal, for example, asks Hamas to be disarmed and has no role in Gaza’s governance – both important Israeli positions that Hamas has been rejecting for a long time.
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There are also doubts about the withdrawal of Israeli forces from their positions in Gaza. In a social media publication on Saturday, 4, Trump said Israel had already agreed with an initial withdrawal line within Gaza for the first phase of the agreement.
“When Hamas confirms, the ceasefire will immediately come into force, the exchange of hostages and prisoners will begin and we will create the conditions for the next phase of the withdrawal,” said the president.
But Hamas can still try to negotiate these lines.
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In previous negotiations on the end of the conflict, Hamas agreed with the removal of Israeli troops to a tampon near the Gaza border with Israel. But Trump’s plan would leave the Israeli forces deeper in Gaza, and Hamas signaled that he can oppose some elements of the plan.
In a speech to the Israelis over the weekend, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to present Trump’s plan as a victory. He said the scenario for a possible agreement to end the war had been prepared by his decision to maintain pressure on Hamas with a devastating military campaign, which attracted the condemnation of much of the world. He also cited diplomatic efforts.
Members of Netanyahu’s far -right coalition have long been opposed to an agreement and threaten to dissolve his government if he agrees with one. The prime minister has sought to appease them, but is also under pressure from many Israelis who want a hostage agreement and the end of the conflict, as well as the international community, including Trump.
Hamas is also under pressure to end the war.
Many Palestinians in Gaza see Trump’s proposal as his best hope after almost two years of extreme deprivation and repeated displacements. Much of Gaza was destroyed, tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed, including thousands of children, and Trump said that Israel will have a green light to destroy Hamas if the terrorist group does not reach an agreement.
Trump demanded on social networks that Israel stopped bombing Gaza to allow the agreement with Hamas to advance. The Israeli Army instructed its forces to focus on defense, restricting military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli authorities.
The combat on land, however, continued. The Israeli army said he launched several attacks on Sunday against what he described as militants threatening troops. Emergency teams in Gaza said they could not reach some of the dead because they were in combat zones.
Israel and Hamas kept intermittent indirect conversations throughout the war, with negotiations generally failing. Rubio admitted on Sunday that the war was not over and that there was work to be done, but said this time it could be different.
“What gives us hope here is that at least now there is a structure for all this to end,” he said.
On Monday, Leavitt refused to give a deadline for discussions, but said that “the government is working hard to make it go as soon as possible.”
