US envoy Witkoff, Hamas delegation head to Egypt for Gaza peace talks

CAIRO – 4 October 2025: US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are reportedly leading a delegation to Cairo to start talks on concluding Israel’s two-year war in Gaza.

“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Egypt later today to finalize the technical details of the hostage release and discuss the lasting peace deal,” media reports quoted a White House official as saying.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Cairo will host delegations from Israel and Hamas on Monday, 6 October, to discuss arrangements for a prisoner exchange.

The talks will focus on “providing the necessary field conditions and finalizing the details of the exchange of all Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s proposal,” the ministry said in a statement.

Hosting these talks in the Egyptian capital come in hopes of bringing an end to the war and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, the statement added.

Hamas on Friday gave a qualified approval on Trump’s 20-point Gaza proposal, agreeing to release all Israeli captives, both the living and the remains of the dead.

Trump’s plan defines post-war Gaza management under a Palestinian technocratic committee supervised by the so-called “Board of Peace,” which he will co-chair alongside former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, remembered for his role in Iraq invasion.

Meanwhile, Hamas agreed to hand over the administration of the strip to “a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing,” without a mention to the foreign board.

Hamas also did not mention the provision of Trump’s plan regarding the demilitarisation of Gaza, a condition that clashes with the movement’s longstanding refusal to disarm while Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continues.

Trump commended Hamas’s response, saying he believes the movement is now “ready for a lasting PEACE.”

The Israeli government said it is ready for the "immediate implementation" of the first phases of Trump's Gaza plan.

While Israel reportedly ordered halting operations in Gaza City, home to almost half of the enclave’s 2.2 million population, at least 21 people were killed since Trump urged Israel late on Friday to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza," according to Reuters.

Hamas and other armed factions still hold around 48 captives out of 251 they took from Israel into Gaza on 7 October 2023.

Most of those released were freed through swap deals mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, while only a handful were recovered in Israeli military raids, including eight alive and 41 bodies.

The remaining captives could be released “within a few days,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 12 on Saturday.

Israel is facing allegations of committing a genocide in Gaza, as per a UN report released in September. Since the start of the war, Israeli forces have killed 67,074 Palestinians and injured nearly 170,000 more, according to the enclave's health ministry.

The war has plunged the enclave into a widespread famine confirmed by the UN. The ministry has reported 459 deaths due to famine and acute malnutrition to date, including 154 children.