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Hamas said Wednesday that it exchanged lists of Palestinian prisoners with the Israeli delegation as ceasefire negotiations continued in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“Today, lists of prisoners to be released were exchanged in accordance with the agreed criteria and numbers,” Taher al-Nunu, media adviser to the head of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement on Telegram, without providing further details.
He said the talks “focused on mechanisms for ending the war, the withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, and the exchange of prisoners.”
Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel began Monday in Egypt, aiming to make progress on a 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Unveiled on Sept. 29, Trump’s proposal includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas, and the rebuilding and governance of Gaza by a Palestinian committee. Hamas said it agreed to the plan in principle.
Trump said Tuesday there was “a real chance” to reach peace in the Middle East.
“We want a release of the hostages immediately,” he told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that the United States would do “everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal” if an agreement is reached.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Türkiye’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to join Hamas and Israeli negotiators on Wednesday for a third day of talks.
“The primary guarantee of success at this stage is U.S. President Trump himself, even if it comes to a point of requiring him to impose a vision,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.
A Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team said Tuesday’s session involved discussions over “the initial maps presented by the Israeli side regarding the withdrawal of troops as well as the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange.”
Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group seeks “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all.”
Trump’s plan has received positive responses from both Hamas and Israel, prompting the ongoing indirect talks.
Meanwhile, a U.N. investigation last month accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, while rights groups have accused Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Both sides have rejected the allegations.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people since October 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry figures, which the United Nations considers credible.
Over half of the dead are women and children.
The relentless bombardment has rendered Gaza all but uninhabitable, with mass displacement, starvation and disease spreading across the enclave.
Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people joined pro-Palestinian demonstrations in cities across Europe—including in Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Britain—calling for an immediate end to the war.
Protesters in the Netherlands urged their government to recognize a Palestinian state, while tens of thousands in the U.K. held vigils and rallies marking the Oct. 7 anniversary despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s calls to stay home.
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