Israel declared victory on Sunday in its war with Hamas as the militant group prepared to release its surviving hostages, a key step in Donald Trump’s Gaza plan hours before he hosts a peace summit in Egypt. Under the US president’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.But negotiators were still wrangling late Sunday over the final arrangements, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was nevertheless confident.  “This is an emotional evening, an evening of tears, an evening of joy, because tomorrow our children will return to our borders,” Netanyahu said, quoting a biblical verse.”Together we achieved tremendous victories, victories that amazed the whole world … But at the same time I must tell you, the fight is not over,” he said.Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, also claimed victory. “The military pressure we applied over the past two years, together with complementary diplomatic measures, constitute a victory over Hamas,” Zamir said.Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office, said the hostage release will begin early Monday, with Israel “expecting all 20 of our living hostages to be released together at one time”.Trump is to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release, and will address the Israeli parliament before heading to Egypt to host a meeting of world leaders to back his plan to end the two-year-old Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.- ‘Completed all preparations’ –   “Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel,” Bedrosian said.Two Hamas sources, meanwhile, told AFP the group was insisting Israel free seven prominent Palestinian figures as part of the exchange — at least one of whom Israel has previously rejected.The source said that the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages.Under the plan, Hamas is to release the remaining 47 hostages — living and dead — who were abducted on October 7, 2023, during a cross-border Hamas attack that left 1,219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating campaign.Hamas is also expected to hand over remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war. Among the Palestinian prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.After his Israel visit, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will chair a summit of leaders from more than 20 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.The Egyptian presidency said the meeting will aim “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security”.- ‘Fear and worry’ -UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will attend, as has Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his counterparts from Italy and Spain, Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sanchez, King Abdullah of Jordan and French President Emmanuel Macron.No Israeli nor Hamas officials will be present, officials from both camps confirmed. The third day of the ceasefire saw some aid trucks cross into Gaza, but residents in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, said some shipments were being ransacked by starving residents in chaotic scenes that saw food parcels trampled.For Mahmud al-Muzain, a bystander, the scuffle showed that Gazans did not trust that the US-led negotiations would lead to a long-term peace. “Everyone fears the war will return,” he told AFP. “We stockpile food out of fear and worry that the war will come back.”Since the ceasefire in the territory took hold, many displaced residents, like 38-year-old Fatima Salem, have been returning to devastated homes.”My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost — nothing looked the same, even the neighbours’ houses were gone,” she said. In Israel, the mother of 25-year-old hostage Matan Zangauker described her intense longing.”My emotions are immense, there are no words to describe them — for me, for us, for all of Israel, which wants the hostages home and waits to see them all return,” said Einav Zangauker.- ‘A long-term truce’ -Going forward, mediators still have the tricky task of securing a longer-term solution.Hamas has over the past two years suffered staggering losses including the killing of its top leaders both in Gaza and in exile.Still, the movement has not been crushed, and a source close to the its negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that while it would not participate in post-war Gaza governance, it will not lay down its weapons.”Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.Under the Trump plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.burs-dc/jd/ser

A Gaza ceasefire was holding for a third day on Sunday, ahead of a proposed hostage-prisoner exchange and a summit aimed at charting a path to peace after two years of war.US President Donald Trump is among the leaders expected in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday for the Gaza peace summit co-hosted by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.The following are the latest key developments in the peace process:- Hostage-prisoner exchange -The Gaza peace deal hinges on both sides adhering to an agreement to exchange hostages seized from Israel in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.The initial stage of the ceasefire deal includes the release of 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 Gazans held by Israel since the war broke out.Israel and Hamas said the hostages would be released Monday morning, ahead of a midday (0900 GMT) deadline under the terms of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the Palestinian prisoners would be “released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel”.Later, Netanyahu called for the imminent release of hostages to be a moment of unity in Israel and a “path of healing… a path of united hearts”.- Gaza summit -Trump and Sisi will chair the Gaza peace summit on Monday in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.The gathering aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability”, the Egyptian president’s office said.On Sunday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said a “document ending the war in the Gaza Strip” was expected to be signed during the “historic” gathering.A diplomatic source said mediators US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey would sign a guarantee document during the summit.But neither of the warring parties will attend, with Netanyahu’s office saying no Israeli officials would take part, following earlier confirmation from Hamas that it would not send representatives.Among those expected to attend are UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Egypt has said 21 nations will take part, with representation also expected from the EU and Arab League, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Germany, among others.Iran also said it received an invitation, but did not indicate whether it would attend.- Hamas post-war role -A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that it would not participate in governing post-war Gaza.The source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the Islamist movement has “relinquished control of the Strip”, but stressed it “remains a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric”.”Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier told AFP the militant group’s disarmament was “out of the question”.- Aid heads for Gaza -More than 200 trucks carrying aid destined for Gaza, including six diesel fuel trucks and five carrying cooking gas, were unloaded on Sunday at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter who also saw the empty vehicles return to the Egyptian side. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured back into a shattered Gaza City on Saturday, a day after the guns fell silent.Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas’ authority, said more than 500,000 people had returned by Saturday evening.burs-dv/csp/jsa