CAIRO, 05 Oct. - (ANA) - Negotiators were converging on Cairo on Sunday ahead of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war in Gaza, with Israel's leader expressing hope that the hostages still being held there would be released in a matter of days.

 

The diplomatic moves came after the Palestinian group Hamas responded positively to US President Donald Trump's roadmap for freeing the captives and administering post-war Gaza.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he had ordered negotiators to Egypt "to finalise the technical details", while Cairo confirmed it would also be hosting a delegation from Hamas for talks on "the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners".

 

Egyptian state-linked media had previously reported that the warring parties would hold indirect talks on Sunday and Monday.

 

Trump also dispatched two envoys to Egypt on Saturday, according to the White House, sending his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his main Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.

 

The US president warned he would "not tolerate delay" from Hamas, urging the group to move quickly towards a deal "or else all bets will be off".   

 

The Palestinian armed group on Friday responded positively to Trump's peace plan to end the conflict, saying it agreed to release the 48 remaining captives in Gaza – alive and deceased – and step down from power.

 

Trump responded by announcing an agreement and ordering Israel to stop bombing Gaza.

 

On Saturday, the US president said that Israel had agreed to a limited pullback of its forces in Gaza and published a map showing a withdrawal line leaving Israeli forces positioned in more than half of the territory.

 

"When Hamas confirms, the ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the hostage and prisoner exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

 

After an agreement is made, Hamas will have a 72-hour window to release all the captives.

 

Trump warned that he would "not tolerate delay" and that "all bets will be off" if negotiations stall.

 

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are also in Cairo to attend the negotiations. A report in Saudi media said that senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who was targeted by Israel in Qatar last month, will lead the Hamas delegation.

 

Trump's 20-point peace plan, announced last week, outlines plans for reconstruction, the formation of a new Gaza administration and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

 

It would see a gradual Israeli pullback from Gaza and large amounts of aid enter the territory if Hamas agrees to release the captives and hand over its weapons.

 

In its response on Friday, Hamas did not agree to large parts of the plan, including its demand for the group's disarmament and the strip's demilitarisation.

 

"Hamas will be disarmed... either diplomatically via Trump's plan or militarily by us," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on Saturday. 

 

Bombing continues

Israeli forces have kept up their assault on Gaza despite Trump calling for an end to the bombing.

 

At least 57 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military on Saturday, most of whom were in Gaza City, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.

 

Mahmoud Al-Ghazi, a resident of Al-Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City, said "Israel has actually escalated its attacks" since Trump's call for a pause.

 

"Who will stop Israel now? We need the negotiations to move faster to stop this genocide and the ongoing bloodshed," he told AFP.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from Gaza City in recent weeks after Israel launched a new offensive to take control of the dense urban area.

 

Thousands of people have been killed and injured in the intense air and ground campaign, which has left several of the city's suburbs almost entirely destroyed.

 

Israeli forces have killed at least 67,074 – mostly civilians – since beginning their genocidal assault on Gaza on 7 October 2023, according to the local health ministry.

 

The offensive has decimated most of Gaza and imposed a famine on its 2.2 million residents. - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/05 October 2025  - - -