A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that negotiations held in Egypt for an end to the war in Gaza were advancing in a 'spirit of optimism'.
The group exchanged with Israel a list of prisoners for release, in exchange for the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
'The mediators are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties,' Taher al-Nunu told AFP from the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, where indirect talks began on Monday between Israel and Hamas.
The Palestinian militant group submitted a list of prisoners it wants to be released in the first phase of the truce 'in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers,' Nunu added.
In exchange, Hamas is set to release 47 hostages, both alive and dead, it seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, according to Israeli officials.
Among the bodies held by the terrorist group is an IDF soldier killed in the Strip in 2014.
Negotiations are focused on the mechanisms to halt the conflict, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the swap deal, the Palestinian militant group said.
The timing of the implementation of the first phase of President Donald Trump's 20-point initiative has not been agreed so far during talks, added a Palestinian source close to the negotiations.
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, October 8, 2025
A view of the partially collapsed mosque in Gaza City, on October 4, 2025
Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces
Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a deal on Tuesday, the second anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel that triggered Israel's assault on Gaza.
A U.S. team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law who served as Middle East envoy during Trump's first term, will take part in the talks over a plan that has come closest to silencing the guns.
But officials on all sides urged caution over the prospects for a rapid agreement.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's close confidant - was due to join the talks on Wednesday afternoon, according to an Israeli official.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a key mediator, and Turkish spymaster Ibrahim Kalin, will also take part in the ceasefire negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian 'national technocratic body'.
Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, which the group rejects
U.S. officials suggest they want to initially focus talks on a halt to the fighting and the logistics of how the Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israel would be freed.
Once all hostages are returned, Israel will free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, plus 1,700 Gazans arrested since October 7, 2023, including all women and children.
For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 dead Gazans, the Trump plan says.
In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza, increasing its international isolation.
According to the Hamas-run Gazan authorities, some 67,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault. It followed the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, when 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages.