US state secretary to attend Paris negotiations on Gaza transition plans

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting in Paris this week with European, Arab and other states to discuss a transition of power in Gaza.

The meeting in question will take place on October 9 and will take place in parallel to the ongoing negotiations between Israel, Hamas and mediators in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, according to Reuters, citing three diplomatic sources.

The Paris meeting aims to discuss how to implement a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump and assess collective commitments from countries.

The plan unveiled by Trump following a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for an interim, “technocratic” government to take over control of Gaza from the Hamas militant group.

The negotiations in Egypt are currently focused on the first stage of the plan, which calls for Hamas to return all of the 48 living and deceased hostages it is holding, while Israel is to release 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences, as well as some 1,700 Gazans detained amid the war.

By Nazrin Sadigova