High-ranking officials from the U.S., Qatar, and Turkey are expected to join indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday in Egypt, as international pressure mounts to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Jared Kushner © Mena Today
High-ranking officials from the U.S., Qatar, and Turkey are expected to join indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday in Egypt, as international pressure mounts to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani is scheduled to arrive in Sharm el-Sheikh, where the talks have been underway since Monday, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry.
Turkey is also sending a delegation led by intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın, reflecting Ankara's close ties with Hamas.
From the U.S. side, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, will attend the discussions, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
Their arrival, initially expected over the weekend, comes as Trump claims there is now a “real chance” for a deal.
The ongoing negotiations revolve around a U.S.-backed proposal that includes a ceasefire, the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, phased Israeli military withdrawal, and the disarmament of Hamas.
While Hamas has given a preliminary green light to the Trump plan, key issues remain unresolved. On Tuesday, Hamas’s lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, speaking from Egypt, demanded guarantees from Trump and other mediators that the war will "end once and for all". “We do not trust Israel,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking the second anniversary of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, reiterated Israel's objectives: the release of all hostages and the elimination of Hamas's military capacity.
He has expressed conditional support for the plan but insists Israeli forces must remain in most parts of Gaza.
The Israeli military revealed Sunday that Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, the man who carried out a deadly attack on a Detroit-area synagogue, was the brother of a Hezbollah anti-tank missile unit commander eliminated by an Israeli airstrike just days earlier.
Israel's foreign minister on Sunday denied reports that Israel could soon hold direct talks with Lebanon and rejected claims it had told the United States it was running low on interceptors.
Iran's military announced Sunday it had conducted drone strikes targeting key Israeli security installations - including the elite Lahav 433 unit and a satellite communications center - according to an official communiqué relayed by state news agency IRNA.
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