Gaza ceasefire talks live: Trump warns Hamas faces ‘complete obliteration’ if it refuses to cede power – as it happened

Hundreds of thousands of people across several European cities have marched in support of Palestinians and an aid flotilla’s attempt to reach Gaza.

Istanbul held the largest of multiple demonstrations being staged in Turkey. Footage showed crowds walking from the Hagia Sophia mosque to the banks of the Golden Horn [inlet of the Bosphorus], where they were greeted by dozens of boats decked in Turkish and Palestinian flags.

The marchers called for Muslim solidarity with Palestinians following midday prayers in front of the former Byzantine cathedral, now converted to a mosque.

The protests were among others planned for Sunday in several cities to mark the second anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s attacks have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry that is part of the Hamas-run government.

Israel has deported a further 29 activists detained by the navy last week for taking part in a flotilla that sought to deliver aid to blockaded Gaza, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the latest attempt by activists to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of the territory where Israel has been waging an offensive since Hamas’s October 2023 attack. Israel says the blockade is legal and has called the flotilla a provocation.

Israel has so far deported at least 170 of the more than 450 activists it detained. The government has faced accusations of mistreatment, including allegations that some activists were denied access to their lawyers, claims which the foreign ministry denies.

Greece, one of the closest EU member states to Israel, politically and geographically, has also weighed in today with an offer of diplomatic assistance to end the war in Gaza. In his weekly post on social media, the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis underlined the importance “for lasting peace” of creating two states in the region.

“All hostages must be released immediately, hostilities must end and humanitarian aid must be intensified. We are in constant contact with allies and partners in the region,” the leader wrote.

“The prospect of creating two states in the region must be kept alive, with real security conditions, as the only solution for lasting peace for the benefit of the entire region.”

Greek-Israeli ties are among the strongest in the EU though strains in relations were evident this week when Athens issued a “a strong written protest” to Israel over the treatment of activists aboard the Global Sumud flotilla.

The protest was made after Israeli forces intercepted and arrested those aboard the 42-strong fleet as it sought to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged coastal strip. Among the 450 detainees were 27 Greek nationals, including a leftist MP.

The protest note singled out the “unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour” of far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir although it did not name the minister.

Confirming that all 27 were in “good health”, the Greek foreign ministry announced in the last hour that it would dispatch a specially chartered plane to southern Israel’s Eilat-Ramon international airport to “return [the detainees] safely back to Athens”.

Mitsotakis’s centre-right government has faced stiff opposition over its handling of the affair. Today’s late afternoon announcement followed an excoriating letter written by relatives of the detainees slamming government officials for the “indifference” they had shown towards “to the abductees, as well as [the government’s] refusal to take a position on the abduction of Greek citizens by Israel”.

At least 67,139 Palestinian people have been killed and 169,583 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Most of the people killed have been civilians, many of whom were women and children.

At least 65 Palestinian people were killed and 153 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry, whose figures are generally seen as reliable by the UN, said.

It added in its post on Telegram:

A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulances and civil defense crews are unable to reach them until now.

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.

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.

Bedrosian also confirmed that Israel’s team of negotiators would depart for Egypt later in the day for indirect talks with Hamas expected to begin on Monday.

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”.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.