Inside the Hamas-Israel talks on Trump's Gaza plan

Negotiators for both sides are in Egypt, with Donald Trump's plan being treated as a guidebook rather than the finished product.

- By Bel Trew

Two years into one of the bloodiest conflicts of our time, negotiators representing Israel and Hamas sat down for a second day of indirect peace talks in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Both sides are scrutinising a 20-point peace plan proposed by US president Donald Trump, as they take part in talks that senior officials briefed on the discussions told The Independent are “the closest we’ve ever been” to the end of the war.

The deal - originally 21 points long - was first presented to leaders from Arab and Muslim-majority countries in New York last month. It was changed at the 11th hour, which initially caused confusion and concern in some quarters that the process might collapse before it had started.

In the days before the plan was announced at a joint press conference held by Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister attended a lengthy meeting with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Washington DC, where he reportedly had the opportunity to “weigh in” and make changes.

Last-minute changes to Trump’s plan

The Independent understands that the biggest alteration made was the removal of a point demanding that Israel agree not to bomb or attack Doha again. It was decided that the peace deal should focus on Gaza, and Trump insisted that Netanyahu participate in a trilateral call with Doha in which he would apologise to the Qatari leadership.

Changes were also made to ensure that the disarmament of Hamas was a key condition, and that the deal directly linked the staged withdrawal of Israeli forces to the demilitarisation of the strip, it is understood. But despite these unexpected amendments, talks began in the resort city at 6pm Egyptian time on Monday evening, kicking off with four hours of meetings with a break for dinner. The talks continued yesterday morning.