Israel, Hamas get ready for settlements in Egypt

Israel and Hamas got ready for indirect settlements in Egypt on Monday, as wish for a possible ceasefire in Gaza grew after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated a captive release might be revealed today.

Tuesday marks 2 years because the Hamas attack that triggered the war.

President Donald Trump has actually invited the Hamas declaration accepting some components of the U.S. peace strategy. Israel has stated it supported the brand-new U.S. effort. Under the strategy, Hamas would launch the staying 48 captives – about 20 thought to be alive – within 3 days. It would quit power and deactivate.

The delegation led by leading Israeli arbitrator Ron Dermer will leave Monday for the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Netanyahu’s workplace stated. An Egyptian authorities stated the Hamas delegation had actually gotten here. The authorities, speaking on condition of privacy since he wasn’t licensed to inform press reporters, stated U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is signing up with the talks.

Conversations will concentrate on the proposed exchange of captives for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, Egypt’s foreign ministry stated.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the scenario “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.”

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” he described two phases after Hamas accepts Trump’s framework: The hostages are released and Israel pulls back in Gaza to the “yellow line,” where it was in August.

Rubio told CBS that Hamas should release hostages as they are ready, and that bombardment needs to end so they can be released.

The U.S. plan also addresses Gaza’s future. In a text exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said there would be “total obliteration” if Hamas stayed in power there. Trump also texted that Netanyahu was on board for ending the bombing and peace in Gaza but added, “quickly on the rest.”

Support for a ceasefire grows Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian told journalists that Netanyahu is in “routine contact” with Trump and that the prime minister has stressed that the talks in Egypt “will be restricted to a couple of days optimum.”

“I hope that we are closest to a captive offer because the (ceasefire) handle January,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a speech.

Anxious relatives of hostages gathered near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, with some urging Trump to continue to apply pressure. Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza City led many to fear for the hostages’ lives.

“We can not permit such a historical contract to be compromised once again,” said Michel Ilouz, father of Guy Ilouz.

As hundreds of thousands of people marched across several European cities and elsewhere in support of Palestinians, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming steps toward a possible ceasefire.

They also underlined their commitment to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank and reaching an agreement leading to a “complete Israeli withdrawal” from Gaza.

Rubio told ABC that decisions regarding a governing structure or international group to manage Gaza can take place simultaneously with the ceasefire’s first step.

“That’s the part that I believe is going to be a little harder to resolve, however that’s what’s going to supply permanency to the end of the dispute,” he said.

At least 12 killed in Gaza on Sunday Trump has ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but residents and local hospitals said strikes continued across the territory.

The Israeli government spokeswoman, Badrosian, said “particular battles have really stopped within the Gaza Strip.”

But Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said that “if the political effort does not prosper, we will go back to combat.”

At least eight people were killed Sunday in multiple strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said the strikes were against Hamas militants who were a threat to troops.

Four other people were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military said it was not involved.

Doctors Without Borders confirmed the death of colleague Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, who was wounded in an attack Thursday that killed another colleague in Gaza.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,139 on Sunday, with nearly 170,000 injured. The ministry does not differentiate how many of those killed were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up about half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

Israel’s military has said it continues to dismantle Hamas infrastructure and warned residents not to return to northern Gaza.

“We’re on the verge, and we do not understand whether one will pass away of a strike or hunger,” stated Mahmoud Hashem, a Palestinian daddy safeguarding in a camping tent in Gaza City.