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Hamas said on Tuesday it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on President Donald Trump’s plan.
Asia One reports that the body said it still has some demands. This comes as Qatar’s prime minister and senior US mediators headed to Egypt to join indirect negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.
October 7 was the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. The attack spurred Israel’s assault on Gaza. A US team, including special envoy |Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US Middle East envoy during Trump’s first term, left for the talks.
Trump told reporters, “I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East”.
A source close to the talks said they had adjourned for the day and the atmosphere was better than on Monday. Negotiations on Wednesday would be a decisive indicator of whether progress was possible given the presence of the senior mediators, according to the source.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a key mediator, will join the talks on Wednesday.
On the second day of the talks, top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya said the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”
He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated”.
Even if a deal is reached, questions will linger over who will govern Gaza and rebuild it, and who will finance the reconstruction. Meanwhile, Trump and Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.
A senior Hamas official, Fawzi Barhoum, said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza – conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.
