Trump Pushes Israel, Hamas to Brink of Gaza Peace Deal

Two years since Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, President Trump’s push for peace in the Gaza Strip appears within reach.

Israeli and Hamas officials started indirect negotiations in earnest on Monday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

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“They’re fighting for survival, and that means that they don’t, for example, want to lay down their arms. They don’t want to give up more territory, they don’t want to give up a place in Palestinian politics,” said Elliott Abrams, Iran policy director for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and former U.S. special representative for Iran.

But a major carrot for Hamas coming to the table is getting Israel to cease its military bombardment. Trump’s plan also promises to secure the release of 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli jails, plus 1,700 arrested after Oct. 7. Trump is also offering to get Israel to transfer to Hamas the remains of 15 Palestinians for every one body of an Israeli hostage.

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Read the full piece in The Hill.