US President Donald Trump has sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner and senior envoy Steve Witkoff to Egypt to begin ceasefire negotiations, the White House said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed hope of bringing all remaining hostages home in the coming days, reported The Guardian. A White House official said the envoys will finalise technical details of a hostage release and discuss a lasting ceasefire, a day after Hamas agreed to free hostages under Trump’s 20-point peace plan. In an interview with Axios, Trump said, “we are very close” to reaching a deal and is pushing to finalise an agreement in the coming days. Egypt will host delegations from Israel and Hamas on Monday to discuss a proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Israel continues strike amid ceasefire talks Despite Trump urging Israel to halt bombings, scores of Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported at least 17 civilians, mostly women and children, died in an airstrike on a home in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighbourhood, with another 20 missing under rubble, reported The Guardian. Earlier, Israeli drones struck a gathering near a bakery and targeted houses in al-Mawasi, a zone previously designated “safe” by Israel. Also Read: Will Trump’s latest Gaza plan succeed when everything else has failed? Hamas condemned the attacks, saying: “The continuation of the occupation’s bombing and massacres exposes Netanyahu’s lies about reducing military operations against civilians.” Israeli army radio said operations would be reduced to “the minimum,” limited to defensive strikes, while Trump said on Truth Social he appreciated Israel temporarily stopping bombings. Netanyahu and Trump push for deal In a televised statement, Netanyahu said: “I hope that in the coming days we will be able to bring back all our hostages… during the Sukkot holidays.” He added, according to The Guardian: “Hamas will be disarmed… either diplomatically via Trump’s plan or militarily by us.” Trump said Israel has agreed to an initial withdrawal line shared with Hamas, after which a ceasefire and the hostage-prisoner exchange would begin. He told Axios: “We had great receptivity for our plan, every country of the world in favour. Bibi is in favour. Hamas went a long way, they want to do it. Now we will need to close it.” He also praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for pressuring Hamas to cooperate. Trump talked about the humanitarian toll in Gaza, citing figures from the Gaza health authority of at least 67,074 Palestinians killed and around 1,70,000 wounded, mostly civilians. A UN commission and a leading association of genocide scholars have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel denies, asserting its actions are in self-defence.
