Israeli and Hamas negotiators arrived in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt on Oct. 6, and began “indirect talks” focused on an exchange of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. An unnamed official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters that he expected the round of talks kicking off on Oct. 6 would not be quick, lasting at least a few days. Prompt agreement is unlikely as the goal is to clinch a comprehensive deal with all details worked out before the ceasefire can begin to be implemented, the official said.
A Palestinian official close to the talks was reportedly skeptical about prospects of a breakthrough given deep mutual mistrust, saying Hamas and other Palestinian factions were worried that Israel—led by the most far-right government in its history—might ditch negotiations once it recovered the hostages. “Netanyahu has destroyed previous agreements before, even when these agreements were concluded with the American side, and so he’s capable of destroying it again,” Mustafa Barghouti,, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The White House confirmed that White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are engaged in “technical talks” on Gaza in Egypt. Negotiators on all sides are “going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Middle East Eye reporters, potentially marking the first time the Trump administration has ever referred to the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails as “political prisoners"—language that all Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Authority, have consistently used.
