Under pressure to end the war in Gaza after two brutal years of combat, negotiators for Israel and Hamas met on Monday with mediators in Egypt to begin discussing a sweeping peace plan presented by President Trump last week.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Monday afternoon that “technical talks” were underway in Egypt, involving “parties from all sides.”
Much still remains unresolved.
The indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, are likely to focus on two aspects of the 20-point proposal that Mr. Trump unveiled: exchanging Israeli-held Palestinians for captives taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that set off the war, and an Israeli pullback from parts of Gaza.
Israel believes that about 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza, and also seeks the remains of about 25 others. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Sunday that Hamas had “agreed to the president’s hostage release framework.”
Under that plan, the hostages will be exchanged for 250 Palestinians prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazans jailed by Israel during the war. For every hostage whose remains are released, Israel will also release the remains of 15 Gazans.
While the plan calls for the release of the hostages within 72 hours of Israel agreeing to it, that would be logistically difficult, experts say. And the two sides have yet to agree on which Palestinian prisoners will be released.
Ms. Leavitt told reporters at a White House briefing that the teams were in Egypt to discuss that exchange. “They’re going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released, and those talks are underway,” she said.
“All sides of this conflict agree that this war needs to end,” she said, “and agree to the 20-point framework that President Trump proposed.” The talks, she added, were an “incredible achievement.”
But issues remain to be hashed out, and it is not yet clear whether there is agreement on all aspects of the plan as initially presented.
On Friday, Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages. But Hamas has not addressed major points in the American peace plan, among them demands that it has objected to in the past. The proposal, for example, calls on the group to disarm and for it to have no role in the governance of Gaza — both key Israeli positions that Hamas has long rejected.
Questions also remain about the withdrawal of Israeli forces from positions in Gaza.
In a social media post on Saturday, Mr. Trump said that Israel had already agreed to an initial withdrawal line within Gaza for the first phase of the deal.
“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he pledged.
But Hamas may still seek to negotiate those lines.
In previous talks on ending the conflict, Hamas agreed to Israeli troops withdrawing into a buffer zone near Gaza’s border with Israel. But Mr. Trump’s plan would leave Israeli forces deeper in Gaza, and Hamas has signaled that it may object to elements of the plan.
In a speech to Israelis over the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to cast the Trump plan as a victory. He said the stage for a possible deal to end to the war had been set by his decision to keep up the pressure on Hamas with a devastating military campaign, which drew condemnation from much of the world. He also cited diplomatic efforts.
Members of Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition have long objected to a deal and have threatened to dissolve his government if he agrees to one. The prime minister has sought to appease them, but he is also under pressure from many Israelis who want a hostage deal and an end to the conflict, as well as from the international community, not least Mr. Trump.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump posted images of Israelis rallying in Tel Aviv for a hostage deal. He added no comments, but the images appeared to speak for themselves.
Defying Mr. Trump does not appear to be an option, even for Mr. Netanyahu. By Saturday, the Israeli military was limiting its actions to what Israeli officials called defensive operations and responses to immediate threats.
Hamas, too, is under pressure to end the war.
Many Palestinians in Gaza see the Trump proposal as their best hope after nearly two years of extreme privation and repeated displacement. Much of Gaza has been destroyed, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, including thousands of children, and Mr. Trump has said that Israel will have a green light to destroy Hamas if the group does not agree to a deal.
Mr. Trump demanded on social media that Israel stop bombing Gaza to allow the agreement with Hamas to move forward. The Israeli military instructed its forces to focus on defense, curbing military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli officials.
The fighting on the ground has nonetheless continued. The Israeli military said that it launched multiple attacks on Sunday against what it described as militants threatening troops. Emergency workers in Gaza said that they had been unable to reach some of those killed because they were in combat zones.
Israel and Hamas have held indirect talks off and on throughout the war, with negotiations generally falling apart. Mr. Rubio conceded on Sunday that the war was not yet over and that there was work to be done, but he said this time could be different.
“What gives you hope here is that at least there is now a framework for how all this can come to an end,” he said.
Ms. Leavitt on Monday declined to give a deadline for the discussions but said “the Administration is working very hard to move the ball forward as quickly as we can.”
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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