First steps in negotiations: Hamas hands over to Israel the list of prisoners to be exchanged
The release of prisoners and hostages would be one of the first stages of the Gaza peace agreement being discussed in Egypt.
BarcelonaHamas has handed Israel a list of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners who could be released under a peace agreement. The release of the hostages will be one of the first steps in fulfilling the agreement, should it ultimately be approved. Hamas official Taher al-Nounou expressed optimism regarding the outcome.the negotiations taking place in Egypt on Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza war.
Hamas indicated in a statement that its delegation is showing "the positivity and responsibility necessary to achieve the necessary progress and complete the agreement." The mediators – Egyptian and Qatari – "are making great efforts to eliminate any obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, giving priority to a spirit of optimism among all," the statement said.
Among the Palestinian prisoners set to be released are figures such as Marwan Barghouti, a symbol of the struggle against Israel. Barghouti was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for five murders, attempted murder, and belonging to a terrorist organization. But in the West Bank, he is considered a consensus figure for his commitment to the Palestinian struggle.
The proposal discussed in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh provides that in this initial phase, details regarding the ceasefire and the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas will be addressed in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The general feeling is one of optimism. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi maintained this morning that he has received "very encouraging" messages from the mediators regarding the negotiations. Donald Trump himself expressed similar sentiment on Tuesday, coinciding with the second anniversary of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
But despite the confidence in reaching an agreement, a timetable for the first phase of the plan, which would include the exchange of prisoners and is a problem for Hamas, has not yet been set. On Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum insisted that there would only be an agreement if the fighting ended definitively and Israel left the Palestinian territory.
In addition to the Hamas and Israeli delegations holding indirect talks through Egyptian and Qatari mediators, the talks also included US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and former Middle East advisor. Since Wednesday, there are also delegates from Turkey and the prime minister of Qatar. In addition, Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement that a delegation from the Islamist group, which also holds Israeli hostages, will also join the group.
Trump asks Turkey for help
On the second political line, there are many international actors trying to push for a pact. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained this morning that he is holding talks with Hamas to convince the group to accept the plan on the table, as Trump himself had requested. "During my visit to the United States and in our most recent phone call, we explained to Donald Trump how to achieve a pact in Palestine. And he specifically requested that we meet with Hamas and try to convince them," the Turkish leader said. However, Erdogan also argued that in any post-war scenario, Gaza must remain part of a Palestinian state and must be governed by Palestinians.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has assured that the negotiations have made "significant progress" and that a ceasefire would be declared if they reach a positive outcome.
Provocation in Jerusalem
But while some are trying to promote the pact, others are pushing for its derailment. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Jerusalem's Temple Mount (known to Jews as the Temple Mount) on Wednesday morning and declared that Jews are "the owners of the Temple Mount," thus defying the so-called status quo religious law, which stipulates that only Muslims have the right to pray there.
Hamas has interpreted the action in the midst of negotiations as a provocation, and has accused the far-right minister of sending "an aggressive message that seeks to strengthen the temporal and spatial division and impose control over employment at the Al-Aqsa Mosque," which is a sacred space in Islam.
