Delegations from Hamas and Israel on Monday (October 6, 2025) started oblique talks in Egypt on ending the almost two-year conflict in Gaza, with U.S. President Donald Trump judging that the Palestinian militant group was able to compromise over his proposals for a deal.
Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence, stated the primary spherical of talks ended “amid a positive atmosphere” and would proceed on Tuesday (October 7, 2025).
Behind closed doorways and under tight safety, negotiators had been to talk by mediators shuttling again and forth, solely weeks after Israel tried to kill Hamas’s lead negotiators in a strike on Qatar.
Al-Qahera News earlier stated delegations had been “discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners”.
“Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism” for the discharge of hostages held in Gaza in change for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, it stated.
Mr. Trump informed reporters on the White House he was “pretty sure” a peace deal was attainable.
“I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important… I think we’re going to have a deal.”
Hamas’s lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who survived Israel’s assault on the Palestinian Islamist motion’s leaders in Doha final month, held a gathering with Egyptian intelligence officers forward of the talks, an Egyptian safety supply stated.
This spherical of negotiations, launched on the eve of the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault that sparked the conflict, “may last for several days”, stated a Palestinian supply near Hamas’s management.
“We expect the negotiations to be difficult and complex, given the occupation’s intentions to continue its war of extermination,” he informed AFP.
Mr. Trump, whose envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are anticipated in Egypt, has urged negotiators to “move fast” to finish the conflict in Gaza, the place Israeli strikes continued on Monday.
At least seven Palestinians had been killed in the most recent Israeli air strikes, based on Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence company.
AFP footage confirmed explosions in the Gaza Strip, with plumes of smoke rising over the skyline, even after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Israel should cease bombing the territory.
