Top officials from US and Qatar join talks aimed at brokering peace in Gaza

CAIRO (AP) — The United States' top Middle East adviser, the prime minister of Qatar and other senior officials joined the third day of peace talks between Israel and Hamas in an Egyptian resort on Wednesday, a sign that negotiators aim to dive deeply into the toughest issues of an American plan to end the war in Gaza.

Hamas says it's seeking firm guarantees from mediators that Israel won't resume its military campaign in the Palestinian territory after the militant group releases all the remaining hostages.

All sides have expressed optimism for a deal to end the two-year war that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and most of the Gaza Strip destroyed. But key parts of the peace plan still haven't been agreed to, including a requirement that Hamas disarm, the timing and extent of an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, and the creation of an international body to run the territory after Hamas steps down.

In a sign the talks were going well, U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s considering a trip to the Middle East within a matter of days.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week,” Trump said from the White House on Wednesday as he opened a roundtable event on a different matter. The trip could occur on Sunday, Trump said, adding that “negotiations are going along very well.”

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived Wednesday at Sharm el-Sheikh for the discussions, as did Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top adviser, Ron Dermer.

Representatives for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were also in attendance, and a delegation from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another fringe militant group that holds an unknown number of Israeli hostages, were scheduled to arrive, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. Their participation underscores the aim of the talks to encompass all Palestinian groups.

A senior Hamas official, Taher Nounou, said the group has provided a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israel in return for hostages in Gaza as part of the deal.

Two officials from Arab countries said progress was made in Wednesday's talks and that a deal could be reached in the coming days. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington told reporters he may also soon be traveling to the Mideast. “Things have moved so quickly over there we think we may need to be there pretty soon,” Rubio said, but he noted "there’s still some work to be done.”

Trump’s peace plan

The Trump plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and release of the 48 hostages that militants in Gaza still hold from their attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that started the war and triggered Israel's devastating retaliation. Around 20 of the hostages are believed to still be alive.

It envisions Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force moving in. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Wednesday in televised comments that the negotiations so far “were very encouraging.”

Netanyahu has already accepted Trump’s plan. His office said Tuesday that Israel was “cautiously optimistic,” framing the talks as technical negotiations over a plan that both sides already had approved.

In a statement Tuesday, Hamas reiterated its longstanding demands for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but said nothing about disarmament, a step it has long resisted. Hamas has also spoken against the idea of international rule, though it has agreed it will have no role in governing post-war Gaza.

Speaking in Sharm el-Sheikh, Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ top negotiator, told Egypt’s Qahera TV that the group wanted solid guarantees from Trump and mediators that the war “will not return.” It appeared to be his first public appearance since an Israeli strike targeting him and other top Hamas leaders in Qatar last month killed six people, including his son and office manager.

In January, the two sides had a ceasefire that brought the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Under the agreement — which Trump and Witkoff played a major role in brokering — the two sides were then supposed to enter negotiations over a long-term truce, an Israeli withdrawal and a full hostage release.

But Israel broke the ceasefire in March, resuming its campaign of bombardment and offensives, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas for the remaining hostage releases.

Past rounds of negotiations have frequently fallen apart over the same obstacle, with Hamas demanding assurances of the war's end and Netanyahu vowing to keep fighting until the group is destroyed. The Trump plan attempts to resolve all the issues at once, by laying out Hamas disarmament and a post-war scenario for governing the territory with provisions for a major reconstruction campaign.

Foreign ministers from European and Arab countries will meet in Paris on Thursday to signal their support for Trump’s plan and discuss the future of Gaza. The meeting will focus on the potential deployment of an international stabilization force, Gaza’s post-war governance, Hamas’ disarmament and humanitarian aid and reconstruction, officials said on condition of anonymity because they couldn’t publicly disclose details of the meeting.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar criticized the French initiative as being “concocted behind Israel’s back at the sensitive timing of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh.” Sa’ar said that he hopes the initiative won’t “undermine the critical negotiations for the release of hostages, as it already happened in the past.”

Praying for a deal

In the Hamas-led attack two years ago, militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Most hostages have since been released in ceasefires or other deals.

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said that Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide — an accusation Israel denies. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The ministry said Wednesday that the bodies of 10 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours.

In the Gaza Strip, where much of the territory lies in ruins, Palestinians are desperate for a breakthrough. Thousands fleeing Israel’s latest ground offensive in northern Gaza and Gaza City have set up makeshift tents along the beach in the central part of the territory, sometimes using blankets for shelter.

“There is no food, nor good water, and blockage of crossings,” said Um Sulaiman Abu Afash, a displaced woman from Gaza City. “Our kids sleep in the streets. We buy drinking water. Where do we go? There’s no mercy.”

Sara Rihan, a displaced woman from Jabaliya, said she was praying for an end to the war.

“I hope we return to our places and homes even if there are no homes,” she said. “Our existence in our land is the biggest happiness for us.”

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AP reporters Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Seung Min Kim and Lisa Mascaro in Washington, contributed to this report.

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