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Third-party negotiations working toward a lasting settlement on a Trump administration initiative to halt hostilities in Gaza have commenced in the Red Sea resort of the negotiation site.

Middle Eastern and regional officials have indicated that the meetings are concentrating on "creating the field conditions" for a potential swap that would involve the release of all detained individuals in compensation of a group of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has said it consents to the peace plan proposals partially, but has omitted reference to several crucial requirements - including its weapons surrender and governance position in Gaza.

The government official said on the weekend that he expected to reveal the freeing of detained individuals "in the coming days"

Background Context

The talks, which will involve Egyptian and Qatari officials conducting mediation with representatives from both Israel and Hamas in isolation, take place on the approach of the two-year mark of the Hamas-led attack on border communities on 7 October 2023, in which nearly 1,200 people were fatally wounded and 251 people were seized.

The armed forces launched a campaign in Gaza in countermeasure. Since then, approximately 67,160 have been killed by defense force actions in Gaza, as reported by the territory's medical administration.

Proposal Framework

The comprehensive proposal, which has been agreed upon by American leadership and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests an immediate end to hostilities and the freeing of 48 detained individuals, only a portion are thought to be alive, in exchange for multiple hundreds of incarcerated individuals.

The plan stipulates that once both sides approve the proposal "full aid will be quickly dispatched into the conflict zone"

It also specifies that Hamas would have no role in governing Gaza, and it leaves the door open an eventual Palestinian state.

Latest Updates

On Friday, the group answered to the initiative in a declaration, in which the group approved "to liberate all Israeli prisoners, both alive and killed, in accordance with the swap arrangement outlined in President Trump's proposal" - if the necessary circumstances for the transfers are satisfied.

It did not specifically mention or endorse the detailed initiative but said it "reaffirms its commitment to relinquish the management of the Palestinian territory to a local administration of professionals, established through local agreement and international backing"

The statement failed to address of one of the key demands of the initiative – that the organization accept its military demobilization and to ceasing political participation in the administration of Gaza.

International Response

Many Palestinians characterized the group's reaction to the negotiation initiative as unexpected, after an extended period of signals that the faction was preparing to reject or at least significantly qualify its approval of Trump's peace plan proposal.

Conversely, Hamas refrained from including its customary boundaries in the public announcement, a decision many interpret as a evidence of outside forces.

Global and local representatives have endorsed the plan. The Palestinian Authority, which administers areas of the disputed regions, has characterized the US president's efforts as "sincere and determined"

The Persian nation - which has been one of Hamas's main sponsors for many years - has also recently indicated its backing of Trump's Gaza peace plan.

Current Situation

Israeli bombardment continued in several parts of the Palestinian territory on Monday prior to the talks beginning.

Israel is conducting an offensive in the city, which it has said is aimed at obtaining the freeing of the outstanding captives.

A spokesperson, spokesman for the region's civil protection agency, stated that "no aid trucks have been permitted entry to the metropolitan area since the campaign commenced one month prior"

"There are still bodies we cannot access from zones under defense force authority" he said.

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza City have been required to leave after the Israeli military ordered evacuations to a established protection region in the southern region, but hundreds of thousands more are thought to have stayed.

The defense representative has warned that those who stay during the combat campaign would be "combatants and their sympathizers"

In the recent period, 21 residents have been killed in Gaza and a additional 96 wounded, the local medical authorities said in its current assessment.

Foreign correspondents have been prohibited by Israel from entering the Palestinian territory independently since the start of the conflict, making confirming reports from the conflicting groups problematic.