Turkey meets Hamas as international partners push Gaza truce

ANKARA / MIAMI –

Top international mediators on Saturday urged all parties to uphold the Gaza ceasefire while Turkey held separate talks with Hamas to discuss steps for moving to the second phase of the peace plan.

Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin met Hamas’ negotiating team head Khalil al-Hayya in Istanbul, Turkish security sources said. The meeting focused on measures to prevent what they described as Israel’s ceasefire violations and to resolve outstanding issues ahead of the next stage of the Gaza peace plan. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity and gave no further details.

Meanwhile, the United States, joined by Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, pressed parties to respect the October 10 ceasefire during talks in Miami. Top officials from each nation met Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the agreement.

“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” Witkoff said in a statement posted on X.

The meetings come amid continuing strains on the truce. Gaza’s civil defence reported six Palestinians were killed on Friday in Israeli shelling of a shelter, raising the number of Palestinians killed since the ceasefire took effect to 400. Israel has also accused Hamas of violating the truce, reporting three Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since October.

Saturday’s statement highlighted progress from the first stage of the plan, including expanded humanitarian assistance, the return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals, and a reduction in hostilities. It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalisation” of a transitional administration for Gaza, which forms the second phase of the agreement, and said consultations would continue in the coming weeks on its implementation.

Under the deal, Israel is expected to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilisation force is to be deployed. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilisation force but stressed the disarmament of Hamas, warning that the process would unravel unless it occurred.