Negotiators from Hamas and Israel have participated in indirect talks in Egypt on United States President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war on Gaza.

Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence, said the delegations that gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday “are discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners”, in line with the US plan.

“Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism” for that exchange, the news outlet reported.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said the first session of talks ended late on Monday evening and more discussions are scheduled on Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency.

The talks, which come on the eve of the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, have raised hopes that the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, could soon end.

But there are plenty of potential obstacles to sealing a deal, and Israel has continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza, with 10 reported killed on Monday, including three people who were seeking humanitarian aid, according to Al Jazeera sources.

The latest deaths in Gaza bring to 104 the total number of people killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, when Trump called on Israel to stop bombing the Palestinian territory so that the talks can play out, but strikes have continued across the territory.

Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Sunday that the military would continue to act for “defensive purposes” and that there was no ceasefire in place in Gaza.

Trump has insisted that both sides are on board with his peace framework and has called for the negotiations to “move fast” in reaching an agreement.

Despite the failure of several initiatives to try to end the conflict, including two brief ceasefires that collapsed, the bombardment of Gaza, which has now killed at least 67,160 people, wounded 169,679, and pushed the enclave’s two million people towards starvation, Trump said “the first phase” of talks on the peace plan “should be completed this week”.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said there had been “very positive discussions with Hamas” and other governments over the weekend “to release the hostages, end the war in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought peace in the Middle East”.

“These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly,” he said. “I am asking everyone to move fast … time is of the essence, or massive bloodshed will follow.”

On Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Hamas was agreeing to “very important” issues.

Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the administration was working hard to advance the plan as quickly as possible, with technical discussions under way.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also appeared to buoy expectations when he said the release of the 48 Israeli captives held by Hamas – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – could be announced this week.

Under the plan, Hamas would release the captives in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Hamas has also agreed to give up power in Gaza, while Israel is ready to withdraw its forces from the enclave.

Lacking details

However, numerous issues remain under the proposal, which lacks details.

There is no timescale given for the disarmament of Hamas, while a vague reference to the establishment of a Palestinian state has put many on both sides of the deal on edge.

Nour Odeh, reporting for Al Jazeera from the Jordanian capital, Amman, said, for all Trump’s comments talking up the prospects of the plan, significant obstacles remained.

“There are a lot of details that could potentially derail” the negotiations, she said.

Potential sticking points include Israel’s insistence that it wants all captives released at the same time within 72 hours.

It also wants to retain freedom to pursue Hamas, despite the withdrawal agreement, and insists that its withdrawal lines and timelines have already been set.

“All of these things need to undergo delicate talks,” Odeh said.

Perhaps reflecting such doubts, Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that the negotiation process would now begin with Hamas representatives speaking to mediators, with Israeli and US representatives not participating until Wednesday.

The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar last month, leads the Hamas delegation.

Al-Hayya held a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials before the talks, an Egyptian security source told the AFP news agency.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described two phases that would occur once Hamas accepted Trump’s framework plan.

First, the Israeli captives would be released by Hamas, and then Israel would pull back in Gaza to the “yellow line”, where its military was positioned in August.

Rubio said Hamas should release captives as soon as they were ready, and that Israel’s bombardment needed to end so they could be released.

Hamas’s future a sticking point

The question of Hamas’s future also looms as a major potential obstacle.

Under the plan, an international security force would deploy to Gaza after Israeli troops withdraw, and the territory would be placed under international governance with Trump and former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

Trump’s plan calls for Gaza’s demilitarisation and, while it envisages that an interim administration of Palestinian “technocrats” would run day-to-day affairs in Gaza, it rules out any governing role for Hamas – though it allows its members to remain if they renounce violence and disarm.

Hamas has responded positively to the plan, saying it was ready to negotiate the captives’ release, and form part of a “Palestinian national framework” that would shape Gaza’s future.

However, the prospect of Hamas remaining in any form has enraged Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies. They have threatened to topple the government over the issue.

“Alongside the important goal in and of itself of releasing the hostages, the central goal of the war, which stems from the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas monsters, is that the terrorist organisation Hamas cannot be allowed to remain in existence,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a social media post.

He said he and his party, Otzma Yehudit, had told Netanyahu that they would quit the government if Hamas continued to exist after the captives’ release.

“We will not be part of a national defeat that will bring eternal shame to the world, and that will become a ticking time bomb for the next massacre,” he said.

However, Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition, on Sunday offered to lend Netanyahu’s government support to prevent a collapse at the hands of his “extremist and irresponsible partners” while the plan is negotiated.

Mustafa Barghouti, of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that the US, in its role as guarantor of the peace deal, needed to ensure Israel withdraws from the enclave and does not continue to wage war once it gets its captives back.

Barghouti said while the troop withdrawal could be done in stages, Israel should not keep any parts of Gaza under occupation and had to “give up this idea of keeping 25 percent of Gaza under their control”.