Trump-Gaza live: Hamas reveals its ceasefire conditions as Trump expresses optimism for ‘peace in Middle East’ – UK Times

Hamas said on Tuesday that it is ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on US president Donald Trump’s plan, but set out a number of conditions including the immediate and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The talks are set to be ramped up on Wednesday with US mediators and Qatar’s PM heading to Egypt to join the indirect negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.

Khalil Al-Hayya, who is leading Hamas’s negotiating team, told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV on Tuesday that the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations”.

He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated”.Mr Al-Hayya said Hamas seeks to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire and a complete prisoner exchange deal that includes all prisoners from both sides.

He added that the Palestinian delegation came to the discussions carrying the “aspirations of the Palestinian people for stability, freedom, and the establishment of their independent state”.

Senior Hamas leader Fawzi Barhoum, in a televised statement, said: “The (Hamas) movement’s delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza.

“He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.

Barhoum said Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”.

Underlining the obstacles at talks, an umbrella of Palestinian factions, including Hamas, issued a statement vowing a “resistance stance by all means” and saying “no one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people”.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has revealed that she has been reported to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged complicity in genocide in connection with Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

Two of Ms Meloni’s ministers have also been reported to the ICC, she revealed on Tuesday.

Speaking with state television broadcaster RAI, Ms Meloni said defence minister Guido Crosetto and foreign minister Antonio Tajani had been denounced, and “I think” also Roberto Cingolani, the head of defence group Leonardo.

“I don’t believe there is another case like this in the world or in history,” Ms Meloni said.

Donald Trump met senior US mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for an update on the negotiations before they departed for Egypt for talks on Wednesday.

They discussed issues such as ensuring the safety of the hostages and security guarantees, the official added.

“The (Hamas) movement’s delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza,” senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.

He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.

Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”, he said.

On the second day of talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”

He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated”.

Hamas said on Tuesday it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on President Donald Trump’s plan but still has demands, as Qatar’s prime minister and senior U.S. mediators headed to Egypt to join indirect negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.

On the second anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a Gaza deal.

A US team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and his Middle East envoy during his first term, left for the talks.

“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East” beyond just Gaza, the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.

A source close to the talks said they had adjourned for the day and the atmosphere had been better than on Monday. Negotiations on Wednesday would be a decisive indicator of whether progress was possible given the presence of the senior mediators, the source said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani of Qatar, which has been one of the key mediators, will join the talks on Wednesday, an official told Reuters, “with the aim of pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement”.

Ruby Chen, the father of killed hostage Itay Chen, whose body is being held in Gaza, has hit out at Benjamin Netanyahu and others for referring to “20 hostages”.

Reference to the “20 hostages”, a figure which has been commonly mentioned in Israel, does not include the bodies of those still being held in Gaza.

“Even though we were notified [of his death], in my book, it doesn’t change his status as a hostage,” Mr Chen told The Independent.

“It’s very, very disappointing when the prime minister, even the president, says ‘20 hostages’.

“I was in the UN listening to Netanyahu speak and he started naming the hostages. He stopped after 20. I actually wanted to yell out, ‘What about Itay?’” he added.

Israelis marched in Jerusalem on Tuesday to call for the return of hostages still held in Gaza after two years of war.

Atalia Regev told the BBC she remembered waiting anxiously for a friend in kibbutz Be’eri to respond to texts during Hamas’ incursion.

Two years on, she says she and her partner, Bar, have always supported peace, but have lingering trust issues.

“We didn’t have any regular life for a long time. It was really, really hard,” she said.

One person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said on Tuesday.

The drone was said to be targeting a car in Deir Aames, a town in the south.

The IDF is yet to comment.

Qatar, which has mediated in previous attempts to secure a ceasefire along with the United States and Egypt, has said many details still have to be ironed out to reach a full agreement between Israel and Hamas.

“The plan consists of 20 points, and all of these points require practical interpretations on the ground,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, told a press conference.

Hamas handing over hostages seized in the 2023 attack would mean the end of the war, he said.