Negotiators gather for Gaza talks

Mediators caution deal may not be swift

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A plume of smoke rises in the background as Palestinians return from a food distribution point run, near the Netsarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.

(AFP)

Hamas officials were in Egypt yesterday ahead of talks with Israel that the US hopes will bring a halt to war in Gaza and release of hostages despite contentious issues like disarmament of the Palestinian militant group under Donald Trump's plan.

Israeli negotiators were also due to travel to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh later in the day for talks about freeing hostages, part of the US president's 20-point blueprint for ending the two-year-old conflict.

The Israeli delegation includes officials from Mossad and Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk and hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch.

However, Israel's chief negotiator, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, was only expected to join later this week, pending developments in the negotiations, according to three Israeli officials. Spokespeople for Mr Dermer and the prime minister did not immediately comment.

The Hamas delegation is led by the group's exiled Gaza leader, Khalil alHayya, whose visit to Egypt was the first since he survived an Israeli airstrike in Doha, the Qatari capital, last month designed to kill top Hamas officials.