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Chief negotiators from Israel and Hamas convened in Egypt on Monday to hash out details on President Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the years-long war and return the 48 hostages still held.
The talks come one day ahead of the 2nd anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were dragged into the Gaza Strip, where dozens of dead and alive remain hostage.
Egypt announced on Saturday that the high-level negotiations would occur Monday in the coast resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, located in the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, after Hamas leadership appeared to accept part of the 20-point blueprint.
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Trump over the weekend urged the negotiators involved in the indirect talks to “move fast,” but he signaled that he viewed Hamas’ response as positive and called on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza.”
Israel’s military operations were reported to have been reduced over the weekend, though a Reuters report citing medics said that 36 people, including children, were killed in a series of strikes across the enclave that hit residential buildings.
Reports have suggested that Hamas remains skeptical over the demand that it completely disarm, and lacks confidence that Israel will cease its military ambitions in the Gaza Strip following the return of all hostages.
The plan’s call to have all hostages returned within a three-day period has also apparently been flagged by Hamas as unrealistic, particularly when it comes to returning the bodies of the deceased, as some are believed to be buried under rubble.
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Despite the uncertainty that surrounds the return of the hostages and how quickly this could happen, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee on Monday, nominating the president for his involvement in attempting to end the war and return the hostages.
The U.S.’s 20-point plan, championed by Western and Arab leaders and agreed to last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would not only end the war, but would require the return of all hostages, dead and alive, within 72-hours of Hamas also agreeing to the deal.
The blueprint calls for the military withdrawal of Israeli forces and the complete disarmament of Hamas.
Members of the terrorist group will also be granted amnesty in exchange for their disarmament and a path to leave Gaza for a third-party nation who is willing to accept them.
Officials from Israel’s spy agencies Mossad and Shin Bet, Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk and hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch, were dispatched to attend the Monday meetings.
Hamas’ delegation was led by group leader Khalil Al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli airstrike in Doha, Qatar last month which targeted top Hamas officials, reported Reuters.
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