END IN SIGHT?

Crucial talks to begin over truce & hostages return

- MATTHEW YOUNG, CHRIS HUGES and CILLIAN SHERLOCK

CRUCIAL talks between Israel and Hamas are set to begin today, prompting hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza.

Ahead of tomorrow's two-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel which sparked the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.

Under a US peace plan, supported by Israel, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages taken on October 7, 2023 - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - within three days. It would also give up power and disarm.

President Donald Trump has welcomed a Hamas statement accepting so me elements of the peace plan, but told CNN that there would be “complete obliteration” if Hamas stayed in power in Gaza.

Today’s discussions, to be held in Egypt, are set to focus on the proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt's foreign ministry said.

America’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the situation is “the closest we've come to getting all of the hostages released”.

But he warned “there are a lot of opportunities here for whoever wants to sabotage it to do so”.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, he described two phases after Hamas accepts Trump's framework.

They are that hostages are released and Israel pulls back in Gaza to the “yellow line,” where it was in August.

EXCHANGE

There have been two previous ceasefires in November 2023 and January 2025.

The first truce lasted only a week but saw 105 hostages released from Gaza in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners.

A second ceasefire was not struck until January 2025, shortly before Trumps return to the White House.