Gaza ceasefire talks enter 2nd day in Egypt as Hamas demands permanent end to war

CAIRO -- The second day of indirect Gaza ceasefire talks between the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, began on Tuesday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, an Egyptian source told Xinhua.

The source said the two sides focused on core issues, including a hostage-prisoner exchange, the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the transfer of governance in the Gaza Strip.

The source stressed that Hamas still seeks US and Israeli guarantees of a permanent end to the war, adding that this remains the main sticking point in the negotiations so far.

The talks, which started on Monday, center on implementing the 20-point peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, which Hamas has recently accepted in principle.

The first phase of the plan includes an immediate ceasefire and the release of all Israeli hostages, both alive and deceased. Israel believes 48 hostages remain in Gaza, 20 of whom are alive.

Hamas said it would only begin gathering Israeli hostages once Israel's military offensive in Gaza ends, arguing that the ongoing conflict prevents its operatives from safely collecting hostages from tunnels and other locations across the Strip, the source said.

In a separate demand, the group insisted on the release of high-profile Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of the prisoner exchange package.

On the future of Gaza governance, Hamas rejected the deployment of any foreign forces in the Strip but signaled it would welcome Arab forces operating in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, according to the source.

The group also explicitly opposed assigning former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to lead post-war governance in Gaza.

The conflict erupted on Oct 7, 2023, after the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel, which Israeli authorities said killed about 1,200 people and resulted in hostages being taken. Since then, the war has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and famine in the besieged enclave, with Gaza health authorities reporting more than 67,000 Palestinian deaths from Israeli military operations so far.