President Trump’s top Middle East adviser, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for the third day of peace talks between Israel and Hamas, signaling potential progress in the ceasefire negotiations.
The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, accompanied Witkoff for mediation discussions, according to The Associated Press. Trump said he might travel to the Middle East himself later, adding that a peace deal is “very close.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top adviser, Ron Dermer, are also on site, the AP reported.
Currently, the outlined deal would include the return of 48 hostages and an end to strikes in the Gaza Strip, sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Taher Nounou, a senior Hamas official, said the group has submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants in exchange for hostages, according to Reuters.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are scheduled to arrive for negotiations on Hamas’s behalf Wednesday evening. Trump has suggested the Gaza Strip would be turned over to an independent Palestinian body if the terms of the ceasefire were accepted.
Israeli leaders have broadly accepted the some terms of the agreement, as have top leaders from Hamas.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Wednesday in televised comments that the negotiations so far “were very encouraging,” AP reported.
Netanyahu also said he was “cautiously optimistic” of the agreement. On Tuesday, he shared a post commemorating the lives lost during Hamas’s attack two years prior.
“Our soldiers and commanders are delivering powerful blows to those who seek to harm us on every front, both near and far. Whoever raises a hand against us suffers unprecedented crushing strikes,” he wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“Together we broke the Iranian axis, together we changed the face of the Middle East, together we will secure Israel’s perpetuity,” he continued. “We will continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s rule, and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. Together we will stand. And together, with God’s help, we will prevail.”
The Trump administration attempted to broker a peace deal between Hamas and Israel in January. But Israel broke the ceasefire in March, seeking to a return of the hostages held by the militant group. Hamas is now requesting additional security guarantees in the current negotiations.
The president said while speaking to reporters on Monday that Netanyahu was “very positive on the deal,” adding that Hamas has been “fine” during negotiations.
