Hostage release talks imminent to kickstart Gaza peace deal

Talks aimed at starting the process of releasing Israeli hostages look set to begin on Monday.

Egypt has agreed to host delegations from Israel and Hamas tomorrow. An Israeli delegation led by StrategicAffairs Minister Ron Dermer will attend the indirect negotiations in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

US envoy Steve Witkoff is also expected to join. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he hopes to announce the release of hostages being held in Gaza "in the coming days" and Hamas announced on Friday it would return all remaining hostages in Gaza, dead and alive.

The group also said in a statement that it wants to engage in negotiations to discuss further points in the US president's peace plan. Speaking to our US partner network NBC, Donald Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Hamas had also agreed "in principle" to what happens after the war in Gaza is over, but he warned the second phase of the deal, which concerns Hamas's disarmament and demobilisation, was "not going to be easy".

"We'll know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics," Mr Rubio added. On his way to a US Navy event on Sunday, Mr Trump told journalists he was looking forward to "peace in the Middle East for the first time in about 3,000 years".

He said the peace plan was "a great deal for Israel" and that "people are very happy about it". Progress in the discussions in Cairo will largely depend on whether the militant group agrees to Washington's withdrawal map, a Palestinian official close to the talks told Reuters.

Mr Trump released a map showing the areas of Gaza the Israeli Defence Forces would need to withdraw its troops from, which he said had been agreed to already by Israel. Currently, the Israeli military has covered around 80% of the enclave in what it calls a "dangerous combat zone".

If the peace plan follows the boundaries shown on the map, Israel's initial withdrawal would leave Gaza about 55% occupied, while the second withdrawal would leave it about 40% occupied. After the final withdrawal phase, which would create a "security buffer zone.