WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that talks to implement a ceasefire in Gaza are expected to continue for a few days, as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Israel must halt its bombing campaign to enable the release of hostages.
“They’re in negotiations right now as we speak. They’ve started the negotiations. It’ll last a couple of days,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll see how it turns out. But I’m hearing it’s going very well,” he added.
In a text exchange with CNN released Sunday, Trump said “yes” when asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with ending the military campaign in Gaza.
Trump warned that Hamas would face “complete obliteration” if the Palestinian group refuses to give up power in Gaza.
In a text exchange with CNN, Trump said he expects to know “soon” whether Hamas is ready to commit to peace under a US-backed plan to end nearly two years of Israeli bombardment campaign in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
When asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to halt the bombing in Gaza, Trump replied, “Yes on Bibi.” Trump said that his deal is a great deal for Israel.
Hamas, Israel indirect talks
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas were expected to meet in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh for indirect talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar on Monday and Tuesday, as both sides moved closer to a possible truce.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that he had instructed negotiators to “finalise the technical details” of an agreement, while Cairo confirmed that delegations from both Israel and Hamas would take part in discussions on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners.”
The White House said Trump had also sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to Egypt to oversee the talks.
According to a Palestinian source cited by AFP, Hamas had demanded an end to all Israeli military operations in Gaza, including air and drone strikes, and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza City as a precondition for implementing the deal. The source said Hamas would “halt its military operations in parallel.”
But Marco Rubio called for a halt to Israeli bombing on Gaza.
“I think the Israelis and everyone acknowledge you can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” the secretary of state told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation.”
“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”
The diplomatic push follows the positive response by Hamas to Trump’s roadmap for an end to the ongoing Israeli bombing and the release of captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there were “logistical challenges” to address to pave the way for the hostage release.
He also predicted that the longer-term goals would be “even harder” to attain, in terms of how the war-ravaged territory will be governed and disarming militants.
“You can’t set up a government structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days. I mean, it takes some time,” Rubio told NBC.
Trump’s peace plan
Trump’s proposal, shared with both sides last week, calls for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages within 72 hours, a phased Israeli withdrawal, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The plan also envisions a post-war transitional authority led by a technocratic Palestinian committee, with Trump himself heading an international oversight mechanism.
Under the plan, Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and over 1,700 detainees arrested after the conflict began in 2023, in exchange for all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Trump said Israel had agreed to an initial “line of withdrawal” in Gaza, adding that once Hamas confirmed its acceptance, “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.”
The US president warned, however, that if Hamas failed to comply, “all bets will be off.”
Israel continues strikes
Despite Trump’s call for an immediate halt to air strikes, Israeli forces continued bombing parts of Gaza on Sunday.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least five people were killed in Gaza City after a series of overnight attacks, with nearly 60 killed across the territory a day earlier.
The enclave’s health ministry said that since Israel began its offensive in October 2023, at least 67,139 Palestinians had been killed and 169,583 injured.
The United Nations estimates that around one million people were living in northern Gaza before the Israeli assault began.
Separately, the health ministry reported that one more person had died of starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition to 460, including 154 children, according to Al Jazeera.
Muslim countries welcome Hamas’s response
Hamas said on Sunday it was “very keen” to reach an agreement that would end the war and initiate a prisoner exchange with Israel.
A senior Hamas official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinian group wanted to begin the process “in accordance with field conditions.”
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim countries — Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Turkiye, Qatar, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates — welcomed Hamas’s response to Trump’s peace plan to end the ongoing Israeli bombardment campaign in Gaza.
The foreign ministers, in a joint statement, described the move as a “real opportunity” for a comprehensive and sustainable truce, while praising Trump’s “commitment to establishing peace in the region.”
The joint statement, also shared by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, said Hamas had expressed readiness to hand over Gaza’s administration to a transitional Palestinian committee of independent technocrats.
Israeli position
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that Israeli troops would continue to operate inside Gaza during the first phase of the US-backed peace plan.
Katz told Israeli media, cited by Al Jazeera, that even after the agreement takes effect, the Israel Defence Forces would maintain control of key areas to “ensure security and prevent any resurgence of Hamas.”
He added that the plan’s first stage, which includes the prisoner exchange and cessation of hostilities, could begin “in the near future.”
Two years of conflict
The war erupted after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Of those, the Israeli military believes 47 remain in captivity, including 25 who are presumed dead.
Since then, Israel’s offensive has devastated Gaza, displacing millions and drawing global condemnation. UN investigators last month accused Israel of committing genocide, citing evidence of intent to “destroy the Palestinian people.”
