Palestinian Hamas and Israeli officials start mediated discussions in Egypt on Trump's Gaza peace proposal.
News Agency
Third-party negotiations focused on achieving a lasting settlement on a US peace plan to halt hostilities in Gaza have commenced in the Egyptian city of the negotiation site.
Local and international officials have stated that the meetings are concentrating on "creating the field conditions" for a anticipated transfer that would see the freeing of all captured Israelis in exchange for a number of incarcerated individuals.
Hamas has said it consents to the negotiation framework partially, but has omitted reference to several essential conditions - particularly its military demobilization and political participation in Gaza.
The Israeli leader said on recently that he hoped to announce the freeing of detained individuals "soon"
Conflict Timeline
The negotiations, which will see Middle Eastern officials holding shuttle meetings with delegations from both the two sides individually, take place on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on the initial attack date, in which approximately 1,200 people were fatally wounded and 251 people were taken hostage.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in countermeasure. Following the initial attack, over 67,000 have been fatally injured by Israeli military operations in Gaza, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.
Peace Plan Details
The 20-point plan, which has been approved by the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests an immediate end to hostilities and the liberation of 48 detained individuals, only a portion are considered alive, in return for numerous of Palestinian prisoners.
The plan stipulates that once both sides approve the proposal "full aid will be immediately sent into the conflict zone"
It also declares that Hamas would have no role in political leadership, and it permits an future Palestinian sovereignty.
Current Situation
Recently, Hamas responded to the plan in a statement, in which the group approved "to release all detainees, both alive and killed, according to the exchange formula contained in the American plan" - if the required situation for the swaps are satisfied.
It omitted reference to or approve Trump's 20-point plan but said it "restates its approval to relinquish the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of professionals, established through Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support"
The statement made no mention of one of the key demands of the plan – that the militant group agree to its disarmament and to ceasing political participation in the governance of Gaza.
Regional Reactions
Local residents described the organization's answer to the ceasefire proposal as surprising, after days of signals that the faction was preparing to reject or at least significantly qualify its acceptance of the US framework.
Instead, the organization refrained from including its established limits in the public announcement, a decision many interpret as a evidence of external pressure.
International and regional officials have supported the proposal. The Palestinian Authority, which governs sections of the Palestinian territories, has called the US president's efforts as "genuine and committed"
The Persian nation - which has been one of the group's primary supporters for many years - has also currently expressed its backing of the American initiative.
Current Situation
Israeli bombardment carried on in multiple areas of the conflict zone on Monday ahead of the talks beginning.
Defense personnel is conducting an combat campaign in the city, which it has said is aimed at obtaining the release of the still-detained individuals.
A spokesperson, spokesman for the territory's Hamas-run civil defence, indicated that "assistance vehicles have been allowed into the metropolitan area since the military operations started one month prior"
"Victims remain we are unable to recover from zones under Israeli control" he said.
Hundreds of thousands of the metropolitan area have been required to leave after the defense forces mandated relocations to a established protection region in the south, but hundreds of thousands more are believed to have remained.
The military official has cautioned that those who stay during the offensive would be "combatants and their sympathizers"
In the last 24 hours, 21 individuals have been fatally injured in Gaza and a additional 96 wounded, the regional health administration said in its current assessment.
Foreign correspondents have been restricted by the government from visiting the Gaza Strip autonomously since the beginning of the conflict, making authenticating statements from the conflicting groups challenging.