Bombing of Gaza continues awaiting the start of negotiations in Egypt.

BarcelonaRepresentatives of Israel and Hamas will hold indirect talks, mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, starting Monday to try to approve and sign the twenty-point plan to end the war in Gaza proposed by US President Donald Trump. Negotiations will resume in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on the very same day. before the second anniversary of the war in Gaza and while they Israeli bombings in the Strip continue, despite Israel's announcement on Saturday of a halt in the offensive. This Sunday at least 24 people died, and in the early hours of this Monday the Israeli army again bombed several points in the Strip, with particular intensity in the capital, and killed at least seven people, according to Al Jazeera.

Hamas representatives have already arrived in Egypt and have met with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, according to the Efe news agency. The Israeli delegation is expected to arrive this Monday and the talks are expected to begin in the afternoon, although the head of the Israeli negotiating team, Minister Ron Dermer, will not travel until the end of the week, depending on how the negotiations develop, according to Reuters.

Hamas, which has expressed its openness to releasing all the hostages and discussing the details of Trump's plan, comes to this meeting under more pressure than ever. Not only for the support that Trump's plan has received from almost all the world's governments, but by the blunt threats the US president launched this Sunday. In a text message interview on CNN, a journalist asked Trump "what would happen if Hamas insists on holding on to power in Gaza," and the president responded forcefully: "Total annihilation."

Hours later, however, the US president lowered his tone and assured that the talks had been "very successful and are moving quickly." Trump said that the first phase of the plan "must be completed" this week and urged all parties to act "quickly." "Time is of the essence or there will be massive bloodshed, something no one wants to see," he wrote early Monday morning on Truth Social. The plan released by the White House a week ago only established a clear deadline: the release of all hostages within 72 hours of the agreement's approval. There are no clear timeframes for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Strip or the entry of humanitarian aid.

On Saturday, Trump warned Hamas that he was not willing to "tolerate any delays" and that they must "move quickly" to free the hostages and implement their peace plan "or all will be lost." This Sunday, Netanyahu also warned Hamas that it "cannot partially accept" the peace plan promoted by Trump but "must accept it fully."

Some of the plan's points are difficult for Hamas to swallow due to their vagueness, such as the one that provides for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, not when all the hostages are released, but in an undetermined future, when Gaza "is duly protected from any reactivation of the threat." But for Netanyahu himself, the document also has some points that will be difficult for his far-right government partners to accept, such as the one that opens the door to a future Palestinian state.

"Do not feed the crocodile because it will come looking for you," Netanyahu told the European leaders and again criticized the movement of many countries to recognize the Palestinian state, whom he accused of "giving in to Hamas terrorism." In an interview with Euronews, he stressed that it is now "Hamas's responsibility" to accept the agreement proposed by the United States.

Merz speaks with Trump and Netanyahu

Some of these European leaders, in turn, have also intensified their diplomatic efforts to ensure Trump's plan is successful. Specifically, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone this Sunday with both Netanyahu and Trump. He asked the former to ensure that the talks, which begin tomorrow in Egypt, "quickly achieve an agreement" that would allow for the establishment of a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the re-entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, in addition to the disarmament of Hamas.

Merz fully supports Trump's plan, and his administration says it is fully committed. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul traveled to Qatar this Sunday to hold talks with one of the most important mediators in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Qatar was the only government that requested "negotiation" of some of the points of Trump's plan before signing it. After speaking with Netanyahu, Merz also called Donald Trump. "They have agreed that a quick agreement is needed in the negotiations in Egypt," his spokesperson said of the call.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wanted to make it clear that the negotiations, which begin tomorrow in Sharm el-Sheikh, "cannot take weeks, or even several days." "We want to see [the approval of Trump's plan] happen very quickly," he said in an interview with NBC News. This same Friday, October 10, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced., a factor that many analysts believe is also behind Trump's rush to reach an agreement on Gaza. "We will know very quickly if Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of logistics," Rubio warned.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the war continues unabated. Despite the Israeli army saying it had given the order to push forward with the first phase of the US plan and halt the offensive on Gaza City, 70 deaths were recorded that same day, 47 in Gaza City, and this Sunday at least another 24 deaths were added across Gaza. In one of Saturday's attacks on the suburb of Tuffah, 17 people were killed, including a six-year-old boy, Ameer. The child's father, Shadi Mansour, showed his body to a Reuters journalist and asked: "Is he a member of the resistance? Is he a fighter? The Israeli army's targets are children."

Ahmed Asad, a Palestinian displaced in central Gaza, says he was hopeful when he heard the news of Trump's plan, but that "unfortunately, there's no translation of anything on the ground, no change in the situation."