US, Qatar and Turkey fly in as Gaza truce talks quicken in Egypt

Ceasefire negotiations over Gaza picked up speed in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday as senior envoys from the United States, Qatar and Turkey joined the room, adding weight to a Trump-backed push to end the war. Multiple sources said a deal is “very close,” with some expecting an announcement within 24 to 48 hours and the first hostage releases as early as next week. In a sign the talks are serious, Israel has begun drafting a cabinet resolution that would be needed before any prisoner releases go ahead.

Washington’s team — special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — sat down alongside Israel’s chief negotiator Ron Dermer, with Egypt hosting and Qatar and Turkey mediating. Negotiators are working off the US proposal, and both Israel and Hamas have already exchanged lists for a hostages-for-prisoners swap. Two of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners, Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat, are not expected to be part of this round, according to a source familiar with the talks.

The hardest knots are about sequencing and geography: where Israeli forces would pull back to inside Gaza, how quickly that happens, and how those steps line up with the hostage releases. Another complication is grim but real — Israeli officials believe Hamas may be unable to find and return all of the remaining deceased hostages, a fact that could slow or stagger implementation.

While negotiators traded drafts and language, events at sea and on the ground kept the pressure up. Israel intercepted another flotilla of Gaza-bound aid boats carrying activists, journalists and medics, even as strikes and clashes continued in parts of the enclave with new casualties reported by local health authorities. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, sounding upbeat, publicly invited President Trump to attend a signing ceremony in Egypt if the deal lands — an unmistakable bit of stage-setting that suggests mediators think they’re close.

If the gaps close, Israel’s cabinet would vote on the package, followed by a short window for legal petitions before any prisoner releases proceed. The timeline is tight, the details are thorny, and the politics are volatile — but for the first time in a while, the momentum is unmistakably toward a truce.

The Washington Post, CNN, Al Jazeera, and BBC contributed to this report.