Taher al‑Nunu, media adviser to the head of Hamas’s political bureau, said Wednesday that the Hamas delegation taking part in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Israel had shown “positivity and responsibility” and that “a spirit of optimism prevails among all” as mediators worked to remove obstacles to a deal, according to Reuters reporting from the talks.
Al‑Nunu said the sessions, which began Monday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el‑Sheikh and are being mediated by Egyptian and Qatari officials, have focused on mechanisms for ending hostilities, the staged withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners, the Hamas statement cited by regional media said and was reported by local outlets covering the negotiations.
Hamas negotiators said lists of prisoners slated for release were exchanged Wednesday “in accordance with the agreed criteria and numbers,” a procedural step described by participants as necessary to advance a phased hostage‑for‑prisoner sequence under discussion by the parties and their intermediaries.
“Today, lists of prisoners to be released were exchanged in accordance with the agreed criteria and numbers,” Taher al-Nunu said in a statement on Telegram, without adding further details.
He said, the negotiations “focused on mechanisms for ending the war, the withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, and the exchange of of prisoners.
Nunu said Hamas showed “the necessary positivity and responsibility to achieve the required progress and finalize an agreement.”
Mediators “are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to implementing the ceasefire steps,” he said, affirming that “a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties.”
He also noted that mediators were working diligently to overcome remaining obstacles to implementing the ceasefire, adding that “a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties.”
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law and Middle East adviser Jared Kushner have reportedly arrived in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh to join the indirect talks.
Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries set up the indirect talks so that technical teams could work out the details of sequencing, verification, and implementation without Hamas and Israeli delegations, officials, and media on the ground being in the same room. Mediators said their job was to work out the operational steps that would be needed to make any ceasefire last.
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