Gaza ceasefire talks live: Trump warns Hamas faces ‘complete...

2.42pm BST

US secretary of state Marco Rubio told CBS News that Israel needs to stop bombing Gaza for the hostage release to safely take place.

“I think the Israelis and everyone acknowledge you can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told the Face the Nation programme on Sunday.

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

His comments come after at least 16 people were killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Sunday, according to reports and health officials.

2.19pm BST

Hamas will face 'complete obliteration' if it refuses to cede power in Gaza, Trump says

In an interview with CNN, the US president, Donald Trump, said Hamas will face “complete obliteration” if the Palestinian militant group refuses to give up power and control of Gaza.

When asked if his ally Benjamin Netanyahu is on board with ending the bombing in Gaza, Trump told CNN on Saturday: “Yes on Bibi.”

In the interview that aired on Sunday, Trump added that he expects to soon know whether Hamas is committed to peace.

Trump’s plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages – about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive – give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an end to Israel’s assault.

However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

Hamas only agreed to three points: the release of all hostages, the surrendering of power and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

As my colleague William Christou notes in this story, Hamas said the rest of the deal would have to be discussed alongside other Palestinian parties, as it is part of a “collective national stance”.

In practice, this means Hamas wants further negotiations on the thornier parts of the Trump deal, particularly the request that it disarms, and a solid timetable on Israel’s withdrawal.

Updated at 2.25pm BST

2.15pm BST

Here are some more of what the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in his NBC interview.

He said Hamas had “basically” agreed to Donald Trump’s proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages, while meetings were underway to coordinate the logistics of that.

“They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what’s going to happen afterwards,” Rubio said. “A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there.”

He said the US would know “very quickly” whether Hamas was serious or not during the current technical talks to coordinate the release of the hostages.

“Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back” to the yellow line – where Israel stood within Gaza in the middle of August – Rubio said.

He described the second phase of the long-term future of Gaza as “even harder”.

“What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line, and potentially beyond that, as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that’s not Hamas?” Rubio said. “How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel? How do you get them to demobilize?”

“All that work, that’s going to be hard, but that’s critical, because without that, you’re not going to have lasting peace,” he added.

2.04pm BST

No ceasefire in Gaza, only temporary halt in some bombings - Israeli government

Shosh Bedrosian, an Israeli government spokesperson, has been quoted by Reuters as just having said that there was no ceasefire in place in Gaza, only a temporary halt in certain bombings.

The military can continue to act in Gaza for so-called defensive purposes, Bedrosian added. We will have more details on exactly what this means soon …

1.42pm BST

The war in Gaza is not over yet, US secretary of state says

Marco Rubio has said that war in Gaza has not yet ended and work remains after Israel and Hamas both agreed to parts of Donald Trump’s plan.

“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” the US secretary of state told NBC News’ Meet the Press about the release of hostages from Gaza.

Rubio also acknowledged that the second phase of Trump’s plan, in which disarmament and demobilisation are expected to be discussed, will be “hard”.

Updated at 2.02pm BST

1.21pm BST

Four leftwing French politicians who were detained by Israel after boarding a Gaza-bound flotilla have declared a hunger strike, their party said.

“We have no news from them” apart from “brief exchanges with their lawyers and with the French consul who was able to visit them,” Manon Aubry, an MEP with France Unbowed, told the French radio station Franceinfo on Sunday.

“Their detention conditions are difficult,” she said, describing more than 10 people per cell and difficulty accessing water.

France Unbowed announced Saturday that two of its national deputies, Francois Piquemal and Marie Mesmeur, and two of its MEPs, Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau, had declared a hunger strike “in solidarity with the Palestinian people”.

Agence France-Press reported that Aubry called on French authorities to repatriate their nationals.

Updated at 1.39pm BST

1.12pm BST

The world is watching to see if an agreement can be secured in Egypt but how close is a ceasefire deal, and what gaps remain between the two sides?

My colleague William Christou has produced this explainer

12.41pm BST

Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul has said the Trump administration’s plan to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza is a “unique opportunity”, ahead of the expected start of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

“For the swift implementation of the American plan … rapid international cooperation is necessary,” Wadephul said on Sunday ahead of a visit to Qatar and Kuwait.

He said Berlin would be making “concrete offers” as a “partner for humanitarian aid, stabilisation and reconstruction” of Gaza.

The region as a whole requires stabilisation “with lasting security for all, (with) a political perspective for the Palestinians and finally the normalisation of relations between all states with Israel,” Wadephul added.

Updated at 12.50pm BST

11.53am BST

Hamas eager to reach an agreement to end the war, official says

Hamas negotiators travelling from Doha are expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday before heading to Sharm el-Sheikh to participate in indirect negotiations with the Israeli delegation next week, Agence France-Presse (AFP) is reporting, citing an official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

See opening post for more details about the diplomatic backdrop to the negotiations.

The source told AFP:

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.

The occupation must not obstruct the implementation of President Trump’s plan. If the occupation has genuine intentions to reach an agreement, Hamas is ready.

A Palestinian source close to Hamas told AFP that the two delegations would be in the same building but away from the media.

He added:

The negotiations aim to discuss the timeline for preparing field conditions for the transfer of captives held in Gaza, as a prelude to launching the prisoner exchange process

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.

“In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions,” the source added.

The talks are also expected to include discussions of maps to be provided by Israel showing withdrawal routes and timelines, which will coincide with the prisoner exchange process, the source said.

Under the US plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages – about 20 of them believed to be alive – within three days. It would also give up power and disarm.

In return, Israel would halt its assault and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.

Updated at 11.54am BST

11.25am BST

Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:

10.50am BST

Israel's defence minister says 900,000 Palestinian people have been displaced from Gaza City

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that the military’s assault in Gaza City has so far displaced approximately 900,000 Palestinian people.

“The decision to occupy Gaza, the collapse of multi-storey buildings, and the intensity of IDF operations in the city have led to the evacuation of roughly 900,000 residents to the south, creating immense pressure on Hamas and the countries that support it,” Katz said in a speech in Jerusalem.

Earlier on in the week Katz issued a final warning to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people still in Gaza City to evacuate south, saying those who remained during the military assault would be considered “terrorists and supporters of terror”.

Before the start of the military assault in late August, the UN estimated that roughly one million people lived in and around Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the Gaza Strip.

The UN said last week there was no safe place for people fleeing Gaza City to go because the areas Israel had designated as “safe zones” in southern Gaza were “places of death”.

Updated at 12.04pm BST

10.03am BST

Deadly Israeli attacks continue across Gaza despite Trump warning to stop the bombing

Despite Donald Trump telling Israel in a message on social media on Friday to “immediately stop the bombing”, there are continued reports of deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting that six Palestinian people have been killed since dawn in Israeli attacks.

It is reported that four civilians were killed waiting for aid near distribution centers northwest of Rafah, one man was killed in Israeli shelling targeting Gaza City and another man was killed by Israeli forces near an aid distribution centre around the Netzarim junction.

On Sunday, witnesses told the Reuters news agency that Israeli planes escalated attacks across Gaza City, the territory’s biggest urban centre and an area that Israel claims to be the last bastion of Hamas.

Despite international opposition, Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza City last month as the military expanded its assault on the city after weeks of intense bombardments.

A famine – caused by Israeli restrictions on aid – has been declared in the city and its surrounding area and hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated southward after being ordered by the IDF to do so.

Sunday’s attacks followed a tense night in which drones dropped grenades on the rooftops of residential buildings and troops blew up explosive-laden vehicles, demolishing dozens of houses in two Gaza City neighbourhoods, Sabra and Sheikh Radwan.

Updated at 10.11am BST

9.35am BST

While there are positive signs about this attempt to bring about an end to Israel’s war, there remains uncertainty over whether or not a deal can be secured and, crucially, maintained.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, has been accused of sabotaging previous efforts to prolong the war for his own political purposes.

His critics have long argued he has prolonged the war to put off elections, stay in office and thereby preserve his legal immunity.

Massive Israeli airstrikes shattered a two-month ceasefire in March, killing hundreds of Palestinian people in what was a flagrant violation of the then agreement.

Netanyahu accused Hamas of refusing to release hostages and of rejecting proposals to extend the ceasefire.

Netanyahu’s critics, however, said he never had any intention of moving to the second phase of this ceasefire, which would have meant Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, in effect leaving Hamas as its de facto ruler, my colleague Jason Burke notes in this analysis.

Updated at 11.55am BST

9.12am BST

As to the immediate future, the plan provides for “full aid” to be sent to Gaza, parts of which are suffering from famine and regular deaths from starvation…

With Hamas banished, Gaza’s governance would be passed to a temporary transitional body in the form of a “technocratic and apolitical Palestinian committee”, which would in turn be overseen and supervised by an international “Board of Peace”, headed by Donald Trump. The board would include other heads of state and international officials, including the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.

That body would organise and set the framework for funding the redevelopment of Gaza while the Palestinian Authority, the political entity nominally in charge of Palestinian affairs in the West Bank, had undergone a process of reform.

A panel of experts will be convened to create what the plan calls a “Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize” the territory, which the US president has previously envisioned being transformed into a “riviera” with a string of hi-tech megacities.

Mention of the thorny issue of a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu vehemently opposes, is left until the end of the plan, with “an interfaith dialogue process” to be set up to promote “the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence”.

9.12am BST

What’s in Trump’s 20-point 'peace plan' for Gaza?

Robert Tait, a political correspondent for Guardian US, has this on the details of the Trump plan, which has been met with widespread approval internationally and in Israel:

Assuming both sides agree to a detailed list of conditions, the end of fighting will be accompanied by the release of all Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, “within 72 hours” of Israel publicly accepting the deal.

In return for the release of hostages, Israel would release 250 Palestinians currently serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians in Gaza detained since the conflict started on 7 October 2023 after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Palestinians.

The plan does not require a full Israeli withdrawal ahead of the release of the hostages. Rather, Israeli forces would withdraw to an agreed upon line, inside Gaza, to prepare for a hostage release. The plan says that all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended during the release process and battle lines will remain frozen until “conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal”.

Once all hostages are released, amnesty will be granted to members of Hamas – the Islamist military group that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly vowed to destroy – who agree to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons.

Those who wish to leave Gaza will be given safe passage to countries who have agreed to receive them.

The 20-point plan envisages Gaza as “a de-radicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”. In a separate point, it says the territory will be “redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough”.

Vitally, and in defiance of the vision of some of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Israel will not occupy or annex the territory, which was home to 21 Israeli settlements before their inhabitants were withdrawn in 2005. Nor will anyone be forced to leave Gaza, the plan promises. Those who wish to leave will be allowed to do so freely and permitted to return.

Hamas will not be permitted any role, “directly or indirectly”, in the future governance of the territory.

9.06am BST

Negotiators due in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks

Negotiators are due to converge on Cairo, the Egyptian capital, later today ahead of talks aimed at ending Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said yesterday that he hopes to announce the release of hostages being held in Gaza “in the coming days”, adding that “Hamas will be disarmed … either diplomatically via Trump’s plan or militarily by us”.

Netanyahu said he had ordered negotiators to Egypt “to finalise the technical details” of the US plan, while Cairo confirmed it would also be hosting a delegation from Hamas for talks on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners”.

Hamas has agreed to parts of the Trump administration’s 20-point proposal, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal, and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners (There are believed to be 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive).

But the Palestinian militant group left some issues subject to further negotiation, as well as questions unanswered, such as whether it would be willing to disarm, a key demand from Israel.

Donald Trump, who is fuelling Israel’s war by supplying its military with vast amounts of weapons, said he would “not tolerate delay” from Hamas to complete a deal.

Egypt’s state-linked media has reported that Hamas and Israeli officials will hold indirect talks on Sunday and Monday.

Trump also dispatched two envoys to Egypt on Saturday, according to the White House, sending his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his main Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.

The US president has urged Hamas to move quickly towards a deal “or else all bets will be off”.

Despite Trump’s call on Friday for Israel to stop its bombardments on Gaza, there were more deadly strikes across Gaza on Saturday.

“The death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardment since dawn today stands at 57, including 40 in Gaza City alone,” said Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for the civil defence agency.

Hamas said the ongoing attacks proved that Israel was continuing its “horrific crimes and massacres” on Palestinian people.

Updated at 9.32am BST