INDIRECT negotiations between Israel and Hamas are due to resume in Egypt today, amid growing hopes for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after the Palestinian resistance group said that it accepted some elements of a peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night that the release of all the hostages still held in the devastated Palestinian enclave could be announced this week.

Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed are to be alive — within three days, surrender power and disarm.

Mr Trump has welcomed the group’s partial acceptance of his plan, while Israel has expressed support for the new US effort.

Today’s discussions will focus on a proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said. US envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks, according to an Egyptian official who asked to remain anonymous.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the situation was “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.” But he warned that “there are a lot of opportunities here for whoever wants to sabotage it to do so.”

The US plan also addresses Gaza’s future. In a text exchange with CNN journalist Jake Tapper, Mr Trump threatened Hamas with “complete obliteration” if retained power.

The foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming the steps towards a possible ceasefire.

In backing Hamas’s willingness to hand over the running of Gaza to a transitional committee, the ministers called for an “immediate launch of negotiations to agree on mechanisms to implement the proposal.”

Mr Trump has ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but residents and local hospitals said strikes continued across the territory.

At least eight people were killed yesterday in Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital, which received the casualties.

Four other people were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser hospital.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll had reached 67,139, with nearly 170,000 injured.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people marched yesterday in several European cities to show support for the Palestinians and an aid flotilla’s attempt to reach Gaza, marking two years since the conflict began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Istanbul saw the largest of multiple demonstrations held across Turkey.

In the Netherlands, an estimated 250,000 people gathered in Amsterdam to press for tougher government action against Israel.

In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, demonstrators marched with signs including: “Gaza — starvation is a weapon of war” and “Gaza is the biggest graveyard of children.”

Yesterday’s demonstrations took place the day after hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Rome, Barcelona and Madrid, with smaller rallies in Paris, Lisbon, Athens and the North Macedonian capital Skopje.