Hamas says it's ready to reach Gaza deal, but conditions remain

Hamas announced it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on US President Trump's plan but still has demands, as Qatar's prime minister and senior US mediators headed to Egypt for the indirect negotiations between the group and Israel.

Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a Gaza deal. A US team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and his Middle East envoy during his first term, left for the talks. "I think there's a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East" beyond just Gaza, Trump told reporters in Washington.

A source close to the talks said they had adjourned for the day that marked the two-year war anniversary and the atmosphere was better than Monday.

Negotiations on Wednesday would be a decisive indicator of whether progress was possible given the presence of the senior mediators, the source said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani of Qatar, a key mediator, will join Wednesday's talks, an official said, "with the aim of pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement".

On the second day of talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come "to engage in serious and responsible negotiations."

He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a "guarantee" to end the war and ensure "it is not repeated".

According to Gaza authorities, around 67,000 people have been killed and the Palestinian enclave has been devastated by Israel's assault that followed the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages in the attack.

The talks appeared to hold the most promise yet of ending the war. But officials on all sides urged caution over the prospects for a rapid agreement, as Gazans voiced hope for an end to the suffering brought by Israel's onslaught, and Israelis remembered the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Even if a deal is clinched, questions will linger over who will govern Gaza and rebuild it, and who will finance the reconstruction. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.

HAMAS SETS OUT CONDITIONS

Trump met Witkoff and Kushner, who will join the talks on Wednesday, for an update on negotiations before they departed for Egypt, a senior US official said. They discussed issues like the safety of hostages and security guarantees, the official added.

"The (Hamas) movement's delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza," senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.

He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza - conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.

Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian "national technocratic body", he said.

Underlining the obstacles at talks, an umbrella of Palestinian factions including Hamas issued a statement vowing a "resistance stance by all means" and saying "no one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people".

Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks. But in a statement on X, he told Israelis they were in "fateful days of decision".

"We will continue to act to achieve all the war's objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas' rule, and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," he said.

US officials suggest they want to initially focus talks on a halt to the fighting and the logistics of how the Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israel would be freed.

In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza, increasing its international isolation.  

Global outrage has mounted against Israel's assault, which has internally displaced nearly Gaza's entire population and set-off a starvation crisis.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after the 2023 Hamas attack.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated around the world on Tuesday against Israel's war in Gaza while vigils and other events commemorated Israeli victims on the second anniversary of the Hamas attack.

Protests in support of Palestinians and those killed in Gaza along with vigils remembering victims of the Hamas attack took place in Sydney, Istanbul, London and Washington as well as in New York City, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Stockholm.

At the White House on Tuesday, Trump hosted Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last surviving US hostage held in Gaza when the dual Israeli-US citizen was handed over by Hamas in May.