Cairo (AFP) - Hamas on Sunday called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel, as negotiators from both sides headed to Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Foreign ministers from several countries, including Egypt, said the talks were a “real opportunity” to achieve a sustainable ceasefire.

“Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions,” a senior Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The diplomatic push follows Hamas’s positive response to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for an end to the fighting and the release of captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.

“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS.

“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”

Negotiators are due to gather in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that the hostages could be released within days.

He said the Israeli delegation would be departing for Egypt on Monday for talks due to start on the eve of the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

Cairo confirmed it would be hosting a delegation from Hamas for discussions on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners”, with the group’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, arriving in Egypt late on Sunday at the head of the delegation.

Al-Hayya’s team was “to begin negotiations on mechanisms for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of occupation forces and a prisoner exchange”, Hamas said in a statement.

The White House said Trump had also sent two envoys to Egypt – his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.

“During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” a Palestinian source close to Hamas said, adding the group would “also halt their military operations” in parallel.

Militants seized 251 hostages during their October 7 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza. Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.

According to Trump’s plan, in return for the hostages, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from the Gaza Strip who were arrested during the war.

- Strikes continue -

Trump has warned he will “not tolerate delay” from Hamas, urging the group to move quickly towards a deal “or else all bets will be off”.

“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he posted on Truth Social.

Noting that the “operational situation has changed”, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warned Sunday that if the negotiations failed, the military would “return to fighting” in Gaza.

Israel, meanwhile, has continued to carry out strikes.

AFPTV footage showed thick smoke billowing over the skyline of the coastal territory on Sunday.

Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli attacks killed at least 20 people across the territory on Sunday, 13 of them in Gaza City.

“There has been a noticeable decrease in the number of air strikes (since last night). The tanks and military vehicles have slightly pulled back, but I believe this is a tactical move, not a withdrawal,” said Muin Abu Rajab, 40, a resident of the city’s Al-Rimal neighbourhood.

- No role for Hamas -

Iran, Hamas’s key backer, said in a foreign ministry statement on the eve of the talks that Tehran supports any moves towards “self-determination” for the Palestinian people.

Hamas has insisted it should have a say in the territory’s future, though Trump’s roadmap stipulates that it and other factions “not have any role in the governance of Gaza”.

The US plan, endorsed by Netanyahu, calls for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament – something the group has described as a red line in the past.

Under the proposal, administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

“We hope Trump will pressure Netanyahu and force him to stop the war,” said Ahmad Barbakh, a resident of the Al-Mawasi area.

“We want the prisoner exchange deal to be completed quickly so that Israel has no excuse to continue the war.”

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,139 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

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