The first day of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Egypt concluded with positive outcome, amid expectations of a possible agreement to carry out US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace proposal to end the Gaza war, sources familiar with the talks said.
Negotiators are scheduled to meet and resume additional talks on Tuesday as Israel marks anniversary of Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023, that killed 1,139 people and saw about 200 people taken as hostage.
However, no official commemoration will take place until next week.
Israel usually marks significant remembrance days according to the Hebrew calendar. This year, the National Day of Remembrance is on Tuesday as per the Hebrew calendar’s 24th of Tishrei, which occurs on Oct 16. On that day, Mount Herzl in Jerusalem will host the state ceremony.
Because this year’s Oct 7 coincides with the Jewish festival of Sukkot, numerous private and public memorials were either scheduled ahead of time or postponed.
However, the country is anticipated to come together on Tuesday evening for a civil society memorial concert, which is being held for the second year in a row by KUMU (Hebrew for “rise up”), a nonprofit organisation made up of inhabitants of Gaza and survivors of the Oct 7 Hamas attack. Israeli musicians will play at the concert, which will be aired live on major television networks and funded entirely by crowdsourcing rather than government grants.
Significant references to the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are anticipated at the memorial performance, which will feature speakers who have been freed as well as mothers of hostages.
According to sources who spoke with Al Jazeera Arabic, Monday’s meeting in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh was “positive,” and a plan was created for how the current round of negotiations would proceed.
The Hamas delegation told mediators that talks about the release of hostages are a challenge due to Israel’s ongoing bombing of Gaza.
Hamas officials Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, two negotiators who escaped an Israeli assassination attempt in central Doha last month that claimed five lives, were part of the Hamas delegation.
Egypt’s state-affiliated media outlet Al-Qahera News reported that the first day of talks included proposals for a ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners and hostages, and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
To build “momentum” and carry out other aspects of Trump’s ceasefire proposal to end the Gaza war, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that the US president was advocating for an early exchange of Israeli and Palestinian hostages.
Leavitt said that the technical teams were “going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released” and that they were “discussing that as we speak, to ensure that the environment is perfect to release those hostages.”
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, Trump stated that “we have a really good chance of making a deal,” but he added that he still has his own “red lines.”
“But I think we’re doing very well. And I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important”, Trump added.
According to Rosiland Jordan of Al Jazeera, who is reporting from Washington, DC, Trump has “not given any details of how he thinks the discussions are going beyond his general positive assessment.”
Since then, Israeli troops have killed at least 67,160 Palestinians and injured 169,679 in Gaza. A United Nations probe, prominent genocide experts and human rights organisations, including Israeli non-profits, have all called the Gaza war genocidal.
According to sources, Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians in attacks throughout Gaza on Monday, including three who were requesting humanitarian aid.
Late on Monday, New York time, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s “abhorrent large-scale terror attack on Israel” on Oct 7, 2023, in a social media post.