Al-Qahirah News Channel reported that the expanded session of the Sharm el-Sheikh meetings began with the participation of high-level delegations from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States. The channel explained that the session was preceded by bilateral and multilateral meetings.
Earlier on Wednesday, Egyptian media reported that the third day of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Sharm el-Sheikh would discuss the prisoner issue and Tel Aviv's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Cairo News Channel reported that "the Sharm el-Sheikh meetings will discuss the prisoners' file, guarantees that the (Israeli) aggression against Gaza will not be repeated, the occupation's withdrawal, and the entry of aid into the Strip."
She explained that the meetings will include "the head of Egyptian General Intelligence (Hassan Rashad), the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar (Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani), and the head of the Turkish Intelligence Service (Ibrahim Kalin)," as well as "the head of the Israeli negotiating delegation (Ron Dermer), and the American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner."
"Narrows Netanyahu's maneuvers"
For its part, Hamas said on Wednesday that Turkey and Qatar's joining Egypt in the Sharm el-Sheikh negotiations gives the talks a strong push toward achieving positive outcomes toward a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, and narrows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's room for maneuver.
This came in a post published by Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the movement's political bureau, on Telegram, following the joining of Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in the ongoing round of negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Al-Rishq added that this participation gives the negotiations "a strong impetus to achieve positive results, including an end to the war and a prisoner exchange, and narrows Netanyahu's room for maneuver to continue the aggression and derail the negotiations." He affirmed his movement's welcome for representatives from both countries to join the negotiations aimed at halting the genocide Israel has been committing against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for two years.
Since Monday evening, the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh has been hosting indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas regarding the implementation of US President Donald Trump's plan to stop the war in Gaza.
On September 29, Trump announced a 20-point plan, including the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, a ceasefire, and the disarmament of Hamas.
Hamas agreed to previous ceasefire proposals in the Gaza Strip, but Netanyahu stalled and continued the genocide in Gaza. Families of Israeli prisoners and the opposition said this was aimed at keeping him in power.
Tel Aviv estimates there are 48 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, some 11there are 48 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, some 11,100 Palestinians are languishing in its prisons, suffering torture, starvation, and medical neglect. Many of these Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023, leaving 67,183 martyrs and 169,841 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 460 Palestinians, including 154 children
