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Hamas's limited approval of the US president's Gaza plan last Friday was received global support and is the closest Israel and Hamas have got in two years toward stopping the war within the Gaza Strip.

How Near Are We to an Agreement?

Hamas's partial acceptance of the US proposal is the closest negotiators have reached over the last several months toward a full conclusion of the conflict inside the Gaza Strip. However, they remain far off from an agreement.

Trump's multi-point plan to stop the war specifies for the group release all hostages over 72 hours, surrender ruling power to an international council chaired by Donald Trump, and lay down its weapons. As compensation, Israeli forces would slowly withdraw its troops from Gaza and return more than one thousand inmates.

The proposal would also bring an increase of relief supplies to Gaza, some areas of which are undergoing famine, and recovery financing to the Palestinian territory, which has been almost entirely devastated.

The organization only agreed on three items: the freeing of every captive, the surrendering of authority and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The group said the rest of the agreement should be discussed alongside additional Palestinian factions, since it forms a component of a “collective national stance”.

Effectively, this implies Hamas wants additional talks on the contentious elements of the Trump deal, specifically the demand that it disarms, and a definite schedule regarding Israeli troop pullout.

Where and When Will Talks Happen?

Delegates have traveled to Cairo to work out specifics to bridge the divide between Israel and Hamas.

Discussions will start tomorrow and are expected to yield outcomes over the next several days, be they successful or not.

Trump posted a picture of a chart showing Gaza last Saturday evening depicting the boundary up to which Israeli forces ought to pull back stating that if the group consents to the terms, that the ceasefire would start right away. The US president is keen to end the war as it approaches to its two year mark and prior to the Nobel prize committee declares who receives the Nobel Peace Prize in October, an issue that is a widely known focus for him.

Benjamin Netanyahu said a deal to bring Israeli captives home would ideally happen in the coming days.

Which Differences Remain?

Both Hamas and Israel have been cautious their positions entering negotiations.

The group has repeatedly declined to give up its arms in past negotiations. It has given no word whether its stance has shifted regarding this issue, despite it broadly accepts to Trump’s plan, with conditions. Trump and Israel have emphasized that there exists limited flexibility on the disarmament issue and are resolved to bind Hamas through firm wording in any plan going forward.

The militant faction additionally stated it accepted handing over authority in Gaza to an expert-led governing force, as specified in the US proposal. But, in its announcement, Hamas specified it would agree to a Palestinian expert-led administration, not the international body that Trump laid out in the proposal.

Israel has also sought to keep the issue regarding its military pullout ambiguous. Just hours after announcing Trump’s plan in a joint press conference in the US capital last week, Netanyahu published a recording assuring Israelis that soldiers would remain across much of Gaza.

Last Saturday evening, the Israeli prime minister reiterated that forces would stay in Gaza, saying that hostages would be released as the Israel Defense Forces would stay within Gaza's interior.

The prime minister's stance appears to conflict against the stipulation in the US proposal that Israeli troops completely pull out from the territory. Hamas will demand reassurances that Israel will completely leave and that if Hamas surrenders its arms, Israeli troops will not re-enter Gaza.

Negotiators must close these differences, securing clear, strict language on disarmament from Hamas. They will also have to demonstrate to the faction that Israel will genuinely withdraw from Gaza and that there will be international guarantees that will force Israel to comply with the conditions of the deal.

The disagreements might be resolved, and the US will undoubtedly pressure both parties to achieve a deal. Nevertheless, negotiations have come near to a deal before suddenly collapsing multiple times in the past two years, making both sides cautious of declaring victory prior to a formal agreement.