By CARA ANNA and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas are set to begin indirect talks on ending the war in Gaza Monday after both sides signaled support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The talks in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are brokered by the U.S. and aim at hammering out details for the plan’s first phase. That includes a ceasefire to allow for the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Trump’s plan has received wide international backing and raised hopes for an end to a devastating war that has upended global politics, left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Many uncertainties remain around the plan, including the demand for Hamas to disarm and the future governance of Gaza. Tuesday marks two years since the war began.

Here’s what we know:

Who’s at the talks

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is leading the U.S. negotiating team, according to a senior Egyptian official Saturday. Local Egyptian media said Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, arrived in Egypt and are expected to join the talks.

Hamas said its delegation will be headed by its chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, and Israel says its delegation will be headed by top negotiator and Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer.

It is not clear how long the talks would last. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum” and Trump has said Hamas must move quickly, “or else all bets will be off.” Hamas officials have warned more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.

The plan’s essentials

All hostilities would — in theory — immediately end. Under the deal, Hamas would release all hostages it holds, living or dead, within 72 hours. Hamas still has 48 hostages. Israel believes 20 of them are alive.

Israel would free 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in its prisons and 1,700 people detained from Gaza since the war began, including all women and children. Israel also would hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each body of a hostage handed over.

Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force would deploy. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

An interim administration of Palestinian technocrats would run day-to-day affairs. Hamas would have no part in administering Gaza, and all its military infrastructure, including tunnels, would be dismantled. Members who pledge to live peacefully would be granted amnesty. Those who wish to leave Gaza can.

Palestinians will not be expelled from Gaza. Large amounts of humanitarian aid would be allowed and would be run by “neutral international bodies,” including the U.N. and the Red Crescent.

What Hamas has said

A Hamas statement on Friday said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. The statement made no mention of Hamas disarming, which is a key Israeli demand.

The statement also reiterated its longstanding openness to handing power over to a politically independent Palestinian body.

What Israel has said

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said Israel was prepared for the implementation of the “first stage” of Trump’s plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages. But his office said in a statement that Israel was committed to ending the war based on principles it has set out before. Netanyahu has long said Hamas must surrender and disarm.

Israel’s army on Saturday said the country’s leaders had instructed it to prepare for the first phase of the U.S. plan.

What remains uncertain

Questions include the timing of key steps. One Hamas official said it would need days or weeks to locate some hostages’ bodies. And senior Hamas officials have suggested there are still major disagreements requiring further negotiations. A key demand is for Hamas to disarm, but the group’s response made no mention of that.

It’s not clear Hamas officials can agree among themselves on the plan.

Related Articles

Strong-Armed by Trump, Netanyahu embraces Gaza deal as a personal win

The only protester still locked up after Trump’s campus crackdown breaks silence: ‘I feel helpless’

Israel intercepts the last boat from the Gaza flotilla as Israeli minister mocks the activists

Hamas willing to return remaining hostages in partial peace plan agreement; Trump orders stop to Gaza bombing

Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid in international waters. Can it do that?

A senior official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, said Hamas was willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza, but there was no mention of that in the group’s official statement responding to Trump’s plan. Another official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Araby television that Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”

Parts of the plan remain unclear. Hamas wants Israel to leave Gaza completely, but the plan says Israel would maintain a “security perimeter presence,” which could mean it would keep a buffer zone inside the territory.

And the future of Gaza remains in question. The plan says that if the Palestinian Authority, which administers the occupied West Bank, reforms sufficiently and Gaza redevelopment advances, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Anna reported from New York.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

BENSON, Minn. — The Benson School District will continue to use the Braves logo and mascot after receiving an exemption from the Upper Sioux Community.

“We are deeply grateful to the Upper Sioux Community for their understanding and appreciation for the way Benson Schools uses the mascot in a respectful and honorable manner,” said Benson Superintendent of Schools Dennis Laumeyer.

The exemption allows the district to maintain a mascot that has represented the Benson Schools since 1945. School teams previously competed as the Plowboys.

The Minnesota Legislature in the 2022-23 session adopted legislation that required schools with American Indian mascots to end their use by Sept. 1, 2025, unless they received an exemption from all 11 tribal nations in the state and the Tribal Nations Education Committee.

The Benson School District requested the exemption, but two tribes and the Tribal Nations Education Committee rejected it.

In the last session, legislation was approved to allow school districts to seek an exemption from the tribal community nearest to the school district.

Benson School Board members met twice with the Upper Sioux Community Board of Trustees to make their request for an exemption. The superintendent said they explained how the district uses the mascot to motivate students to be of good character and do well in a very positive and respectful way.

Throughout the elementary school, signs promote the “Braves Way” with the ‘B’ representing positive attributes such “B respectful, B engaged, B my best.”

It was a two-way conversation with the local tribal trustees, according to the superintendent. The Upper Sioux Community indicated a willingness to help the district as it meets state education requirements for instruction about the Indigenous peoples of Minnesota, in particular the Dakota.

Related Articles

Letters: Perhaps I was naive if I expected an esprit de corps speech from Secretary Hegseth

Flags at half-staff for Minnesota firefighter who died in Idaho

Letters: It’s not left or right that matters most, but the vengeful alienation

State regulators approve sale of Minnesota Power’s parent company

MN health officials: More measles cases confirmed, 10 in Dakota County

The community has the resources and knowledge to help the district educate its students in an authentic way, the superintendent noted.

The decision to seek an exemption to maintain the mascot and logo came amid overwhelming support from the community to do so.

The superintendent said board members have been discussing the issue for over two years now, and feedback from residents and school alumni was overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining the mascot. Alumni indicated that they would feel as if they lost their school if the mascot was lost, he said.

A major concern too was the potential cost for adopting a new mascot and logo. The superintendent said it was a $1 million proposition. Everything from athletic uniforms to the scoreboards, furniture, gym floors and more would need to be changed.

The legislation provided no funding for schools to make a mascot change. The cost would have come at the expense of educational programming. The district is discussing the possibility of adopting a four-day schedule for the potential cost savings to help maintain educational offerings.

 

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit Monday aiming to stop President Donald Trump’s administration from sending hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago.

Trump moved to deploy the National Guard in another city on Saturday by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago. Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago, but it was not immediately clear when or exactly where they would be deployed.

The lawsuit alleges that “these advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous.”

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the lawsuit says.

Related Articles

Kremlin welcomes Trump’s comments on Putin’s offer to extend the New START nuclear arms pact

Trump says the US has secured $17 trillion in new investments. The real number is likely much less

The Supreme Court will evaluate Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power in its new term

Republicans and Democrats at an impasse as government shutdown enters sixth day

Leader of UK Conservatives vows to deport 150,000 people a year

Some recent military funerals in the region are not including full military honors because of the federal government shutdown that began last week.

Jerome Feltis, a licensed funeral director at Gregory J. Norman Funeral Chapel in Grand Forks, said he was first told Friday morning that a funeral on Saturday for a retired Navy sailor would not be attended by U.S. Navy Reserve members from the Navy Reserve Center in Fargo.

“I don’t recall that ever happening,” Felstis said, referring to previous government shutdowns.

The honors that would normally be performed by requested military personnel would include presenting a U.S. flag to the family members of the deceased. The total number of reserve or active service members who attend can vary between military branches, according to Feltis, but most will send at least two members.

The hold on military honors doesn’t seem to be affecting every branch of the military, either; Feltis said another request he put in to have service members from the Grand Forks Air Force Base attend an upcoming funeral was approved only a few hours after he was notified about the Navy Reserve members. He added he’s unsure if any other branches are providing military personnel during the shutdown or not.

“I haven’t had to request anyone from the National Guard yet or from the Marines since the shutdown, so I don’t know what their response would be,” he said.

Because of the shutdown, military workers will not be paid until a funding deal is reached, according to the government. No new orders may be issued to active and reserve personnel until the government is reopened either, except in cases of natural disaster or national security.

Members of the East Grand Forks American Legion Post 157 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3817 will continue to provide their own services at local military funerals if requested, according to Jack Chatt, a member of the Legion and VFW who coordinates military services with local funeral homes.

Those services can include playing taps and providing riflemen. Chatt also said Legion members can present flags to family members themselves if other military personnel cannot attend.

Related Articles

Letters: Perhaps I was naive if I expected an esprit de corps speech from Secretary Hegseth

Noem visits Chicago area ICE facility as agents detain multiple protesters outside

Hegseth announces latest strike on boat near Venezuela he says was trafficking drugs

Trump administration taps Army Reserve and National Guard for temporary immigration judges

Other voices: Russia’s airspace incursions are a test for U.S., allies

“We will continue to be there,” Chatt said.

The shutdown itself is likely to last at least into this week after a fourth vote to pass a funding bill failed in the Senate on Friday. The Senate adjourned until Monday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson also announced the House would not be returning to Washington until Oct. 14.