All of this media stuff is fine….
Trump and Netanyahu ‘high fiving it’
BUT?
The ‘Deal’ rests on Hamas taking itself out of business (and laying down its arms) in Gaza and the West Bank….
Netanyahu needs the hostage’s back….
PERIOD….
Israel and Hamas prepared for indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza grew after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.
Tuesday marks two years since the Hamas attack that sparked the war.
President Donald Trump has welcomed the Hamas statement accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.
The delegation led by top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer will leave Monday for the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Netanyahu’s office said. An Egyptian official said the Hamas delegation had arrived. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief reporters, said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks
Discussions will focus on the proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the situation “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.”
….
As hundreds of thousands of people marched across several European cities and elsewhere in support of Palestinians, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming steps toward a possible ceasefire.
They also underlined their commitment to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank and reaching an agreement leading to a “full Israeli withdrawal” from Gaza.
Rubio told ABC that decisions regarding a governing structure or international group to manage Gaza can take place simultaneously with the ceasefire’s first step.
“That’s the part that I think is going to be a little tougher to work through, but that’s what’s going to provide permanency to the end of the conflict,” he said…..
…
The Deal….
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the Cairo talks were “the closest we’ve come to getting all the hostages released” in an interview with ABC on Sunday. He warned that talks could still falter over logistics, however, and that details of the hostage release needed to be worked out.
Rubio said there were long-term challenges in implementing the deal, in particular the creation of a technocratic governing body to oversee Gaza in place of Hamas. He emphasised that the current priority was the hostages’ release and ensuring Israeli troops withdrew to an agreed upon line in Gaza.
Trump’s plan would mean Hamas releasing all hostages within 72 hours, surrendering ruling power to a transnational authority headed by the US president, and laying down its arms. In return, Israel would gradually withdraw its troops from Gaza and return more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The deal would release a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, parts of which are in famine, as well as reconstruction funds.
On Saturday night, Trump shared a map of Gaza that delineated the initial withdrawal line of Israeli troops in Gaza, which ranged from 1.2 miles (2km) to 4 miles deep within the territory. He said if Hamas agreed to the withdrawal line, a ceasefire would begin immediately.
Israeli forces are meant to completely withdraw to a buffer zone at the edge of Gaza under the terms of the plan, although the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that regardless of any deal, troops would remain in most of Gaza….
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