Sawt Falasteen - Hamas says 'optimism prevails' in Gaza talks with Israel

The talks aim to thrash out a plan to implement a 20-point peace proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump last month, and which both Israel and Hamas have responded positively to.

The plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas's disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

On Wednesday, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkey's intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Trump's special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner were all due in Sharm El-Sheikh.

"The mediators are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP from Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Palestinian militant group submitted a list of prisoners it wants to be released in the first phase of the truce "in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers", Nunu added.

In exchange, Hamas is set to release 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

"There's a real chance that we could do something," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

"I think there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East. It's something even beyond the Gaza situation. We want a release of the hostages immediately."

Trump said the United States would do "everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal" if Hamas and Israel did agree on a ceasefire.

The talks got underway as Israel commemorated the second anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack, which triggered the Gaza war.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that over half of the dead are women and children.

- Protests -

Global pressure to end the war has escalated, with much of Gaza flattened, a UN-declared famine unfolding and Israeli hostage families still longing for their loved ones' return.

A UN probe last month accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, while rights groups have accused Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the October 7 attack. Both sides reject the allegations.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters joined pro-Palestinian mass demonstrations in cities across the world last weekend calling for an immediate end to the war, including in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Britain.

In Gaza, people were desperate for an end to a war that has upended their lives, interrupted their children's education, and left many families scarred by loss and grief.

"My dream is for the war to end now, not tomorrow," said Abeer Abu Said, a 21-year-old in Gaza who has lost seven family members in the war.

"I don't trust anyone -- from the Israeli negotiators or even Hamas -- they all lie to us. Negotiations for the sake of negotiations, while we die every minute."

In Israel, people marked the second anniversary of the October 7 attack with music, tears and speeches.

"I rise from the ashes and I come home," sang Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the massacre at the Nova music festival who represented Israel at the last Eurovision contest.

Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval was killed at the Nova festival with her fiance Moshe Shuva, told AFP October 7 was a "black" day for the family.

"Now it's two years. And I'm here to be with her, because this is the last time that she was alive," the 75-year-old said at the site of the attack.

- Prisoners -

Key to the negotiations will be the names of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas will push for.

According to Egyptian state-linked media, high-profile inmate Marwan Barghouti -- from Hamas's rival, the Fatah movement -- is among those the group wants to see released.

He has been imprisoned since 2002, and was sentenced to life behind bars in 2004 on murder charges.

Regarded as a terrorist by Israel, he often tops opinion polls of popular Palestinian leaders and is sometimes described by his supporters as the "Palestinian Mandela".

More broadly, Hamas's top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said the Islamist group wants "guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all".

A Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team said Tuesday's session included Hamas discussing "the initial maps presented by the Israeli side regarding the withdrawal of troops as well as the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange".

burs/ser/smw

R.Shaban--SF-PST