By CAIRO/JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (AfrikTimes) – Hamas officials arrived in Egypt on Sunday ahead of talks with Israel that the United States hopes will lead to a halt in fighting and the freeing of hostages in Gaza, with Washington’s top diplomat saying the coming days are critical.
Israeli negotiators, led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, are to travel to Egypt on Monday for negotiations in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh about the release of hostages, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the nearly two-year Gaza war.
“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of logistics,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday, referring to the release of 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Displaced Palestinians sit next to the tents, during the Israeli military offensive, in Gaza City, October 5, 2025.
Trump said later on Sunday that negotiations were advancing rapidly. “I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” he said in a social media post.
The first phase deals with the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian hostages.
A Hamas delegation, led by the group’s exiled Gaza chief, Khalil Al-Hayya, landed in Egypt late Sunday to join representatives of the U.S. and Qatar for talks over the implementation of the most advanced effort yet to halt the conflict. It was the first visit by Hayya to Egypt since he survived an Israeli strike in Doha, the Qatari capital, last month.
Trump has championed a 20-point plan designed to end hostilities, secure the release of hostages, and outline Gaza’s political future. Both Israel and Hamas have agreed to parts of the proposal.
Smoke rises following explosions in Gaza City after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a U.S. plan to end the war, as seen from central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025.
On Friday, Hamas accepted several key provisions of the plan, including the hostage exchange, but avoided taking a clear position on contentious issues such as disarmament, which it has long opposed.
Trump welcomed Hamas’ response, saying he believed Hamas had shown it was “ready for a lasting PEACE.” He told Israel to stop bombing Gaza immediately, but Israel’s attacks on the enclave have continued.
AVOIDING A PHASED APPROACH
An official briefed on the talks in Egypt said negotiators would focus on hammering out a comprehensive deal before a ceasefire can be implemented.
“This differs from earlier rounds of negotiations which followed a phased approach, where the first phase was agreed and then required more negotiations to reach subsequent phases in the ceasefire,” the official told reporters.
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip September 29, 2025.
“These subsequent rounds of negotiations is where things broke down previously and there is a conscious effort among mediators to avoid that approach this time around.”
Rubio told ABC’s This Week that while a timeline for finalizing an agreement to release the hostages remains uncertain, the talks “cannot take weeks or even multiple days. We want to see this happen very fast.”
STRIKES CONTINUE
The plan has stirred hopes for peace among Palestinians, but there was no let-up of Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday. Planes and tanks pounded areas across the enclave, killing at least 19 people, local health authorities said. Four of those killed were seeking aid in the south of the strip, and five were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City in the early afternoon, they said.
Ahmed Assad, a displaced Palestinian man in central Gaza, said he had been hopeful when news broke of Trump’s plan, but said nothing had changed on the ground.
“We do not see any change to the situation; on the contrary, we don’t know what action to take, what shall we do? Shall we remain in the streets? Shall we leave?” he asked.
A displaced Palestinian child, who fled Gaza City due to an Israeli military operation, stands by a fence, as he rests on the roadside, in the central Gaza Strip, October 5, 2025.
SOME IN ISRAEL OPTIMISTIC FOR END TO WAR
In a sign of Israeli optimism over the Trump plan, the shekel currency hit a three-year high against the dollar and Tel Aviv stocks reached an all-time high. Some people in Tel Aviv shared that sentiment. “It’s the first time in months that I’m actually hopeful. Trump has really instilled a lot of hope into us,” said resident Gil Shelly.
Domestically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hardline members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that halting attacks on Gaza would be a “grave mistake.” He and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have threatened to bring down Netanyahu’s government if the Gaza war ends.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on Saturday, on a house in the Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City October 5, 2025.
But opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party has said political cover will be provided so the Trump initiative can succeed and “we won’t let them torpedo the deal”.
Israel began attacking Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s campaign, which has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities, has led to its international isolation.
Women and children react after identifying the body of a family member at the Nasser hospital, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2025.
Additional reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Andrew Mills, and Mahmoud Issa.
