ISTANBUL

Hamas said on Wednesday that it exchanged with Israel the lists of Palestinian prisoners to be released, as Gaza ceasefire negotiations continued in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

“Today, lists of prisoners to be released were exchanged in accordance with the agreed criteria and numbers,” Taher al-Nunu, a media adviser to the Hamas chief, said in a statement on Telegram, without providing further details.

The negotiations “focused on mechanisms for ending the war, the withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, and the exchange of prisoners,” he added.

Nunu said Hamas showed “the necessary positivity and responsibility to achieve the required progress and finalize an agreement.”

Mediators “are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to implementing the ceasefire steps,” he said, affirming that “a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties.”

Hamas and Israeli delegations resumed indirect negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday to reach an agreement to end the war in Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.

High-level delegations have joined the negotiations, including US envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin is also set to arrive to take part in the talks.

On Sept. 29, Trump unveiled a 20-point proposal that includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas, and the rebuilding of Gaza. Hamas agreed to the plan in principle.

The Israeli military has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave all but uninhabitable and has led to mass displacement, starvation and the proliferation of disease.