Negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Sharm el-Sheikh are expected to “last a few days,” with mediators from the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in attendance, an official with knowledge of the talks has told CNN.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Egypt for the negotiations, the official said.
It is unclear if Witkoff and Kushner will be in Sharm El Sheikh today or later in the week.
Negotiators representing Hamas and Israel are already in Egypt, as we reported earlier.
Mediators are trying to iron out details of the plan presented by the Trump administration last week. The Trump plan differs from earlier rounds of negotiations, which had called for a three-phased ceasefire in Gaza, according to the official.
Under those plans, Hamas would have released hostages over several weeks as Israel carried out a multi-stage withdrawal from the enclave.
Previous talks over the various phases caused negotiations to break down, the official said, adding that “there is a conscious effort among mediators to avoid that approach this time around.”
The current plan demands Hamas release all hostages while Israel releases Palestinian prisoners, withdraws its forces within Gaza to agreed upon lines and according to an agreed upon timeline.
Still, many details must still be agreed upon over the next few days for the plan to succeed. The details and timeline of Israel’s withdrawal have not yet been agreed, the official said, and even more complex are the details of the transfer of governance in Gaza, as well as the formation of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) to stabilize the devastated enclave.
The United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are among the countries proposed to play a role in the ISF, according to the official, although “what that means” is still subject to negotiations, the official added.
Negotiations in Egypt are “designed to tackle the specific details,” the official said.
[SRC] https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-gaza-hamas-trump-10-06-25
