KEY POINTS
- The indirect talks aim to secure the release of hostages and detainees under Trump’s peace plan.
- Egypt’s Al-Qahera News said Hamas and Israeli delegations are preparing for discussions on the exchange of prisoners.
- Hamas announced its approval to release all hostages, under the terms of Trump’s plan.
- Trump urged Israel to halt its bombardment of Gaza, saying Hamas appeared “ready for a lasting peace”.
- Israeli strikes continued across Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 41 people.
- The plan calls for a halt to hostilities, Israeli withdrawal, and a technocratic post-war administration led by Trump.
CAIRO, Egypt: Hamas and Israel will hold indirect talks in Cairo on Sunday and Monday to secure the release of hostages and detainees, Egyptian state-linked media reported on Saturday.
Egypt’s Al-Qahera News reported that both delegations “have begun moving to launch talks in Cairo tomorrow and the day after, to discuss arranging the ground conditions for the exchange of all detainees and prisoners, in accordance with Trump’s proposal”.
Trump envoys head to Egypt
Two envoys of US President Donald Trump headed to Egypt on Saturday to discuss the release of hostages in Gaza, after Hamas agreed to his ceasefire proposal, while Israeli forces launched deadly strikes across the Palestinian territory.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff were expected to finalise details on the release of hostages and discuss a deal pushed by Trump to end the nearly two-year Israeli bombardment campaign, a White House official, cited by AFP, said.
The indirect talks come after Trump urged Israel to halt its bombardment of Gaza, following Hamas’s announcement that it was ready to release all the hostages and begin negotiations on the ceasefire proposal.
“The movement announces its approval for the release of all hostages — living and remains — according to the exchange formula included in President Trump’s proposal,” Hamas said in a Friday statement.
Trump later posted on Truth Social: “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”
On Saturday, Trump had a warning for Hamas, telling the Palestinian group he would “not tolerate delay” on the peace deal.
Israel continues deadly strikes
Israel meanwhile conducted deadly strikes across Gaza on Saturday.
At least 41 people were killed since dawn Saturday, according to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, head of Gaza’s main Al-Shifa Hospital.
Salmiya said the dead included 34 people killed in Gaza City itself, where Israeli forces have carried out a sweeping air and ground assault in recent weeks.
“The Israeli bombardment on Gaza continues with the same intensity and pattern — air strikes, artillery shelling and quadcopter drone fire are ongoing,” said Mohammed al-Mughayyir of Gaza’s civil defence, a rescue force.
Israel announced on Saturday that it would work on “immediate implementation” of the first stage of the peace plan, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved during a visit to Washington.
Yet potential pitfalls remain — the precise timeline for implementing Trump’s plan remains unclear, some logistics may prove problematic because of Gaza’s devastation, and issues such as Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal appear unsettled.
Call for ‘swift negotiations’
A Hamas official, cited by AFP, said Egypt, a mediator in the truce talks, would host a conference for Palestinian factions to decide on Gaza’s post-war future.
Trump’s plan calls for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament.
It also stipulates that Hamas and other Palestinian groups “not have any role in the governance of Gaza”, with administration of the territory instead taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
“President Trump’s demand to stop the war immediately is essential to prevent serious and irreversible harm to the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli group that has campaigned for the release of captives, said in a statement.
Israeli military warns residents not to return
Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza civil defence agency, told AFP that the night was “very violent”, adding that 20 homes were destroyed overnight.
The Israeli military said it was operating in Gaza City and warned residents not to return there.
“The IDF (Israeli military) troops are still operating in Gaza City, and returning to it is extremely dangerous. For your safety, avoid returning north or approaching areas of IDF troop activity anywhere — including in the southern Gaza Strip,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X.
Israeli media reported that the military had shifted to a defensive posture in Gaza following Trump’s call, though the military did not confirm this to AFP.
Of those killed in Gaza City, 17 died in an Israeli air strike on the home of the Abdul Aal family in the city’s Al-Tuffa neighbourhood, hospitals said.
Since October 2023, Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 67,074 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
‘Best medicine is peace’
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, hailed Trump’s proposed plan for Gaza, stating that the “best medicine is peace”.
“[The] WHO welcomes the peace plan for Gaza … for an immediate end to the war, the release of all hostages, the resumption of humanitarian aid, reconstruction, including of hospitals, and peaceful and prosperous coexistence for Palestinians and Israelis,” he said in a statement posted on X.
.@WHO welcomes the peace plan for #Gaza proposed by @POTUS and supported by other countries for:
-an immediate end to the war
-the release of all hostages
-the resumption of humanitarian aid
-reconstruction, including of hospitals
-peaceful and prosperous coexistence for… pic.twitter.com/SDLDUCUufS— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 4, 2025
