On October 15, a senior Israeli official denied previous reports in U.S. media that Israel and Hamas had begun negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

The official said: ¡°We are still in phase one. After phase one is completed, we will discuss phase two.¡±

The official added that some mid-level Israeli officials remained in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but they were there to discuss the return of the remaining killed hostages and the full implementation of the phase one agreement.

Earlier, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman stated that the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement had taken effect at 12 noon local time on the 10th. On the 13th, Hamas released a total of 20 Israeli detainees in two batches and handed over the remains of four detainees; Israel began to release nearly 2000 Palestinian detainees. On the same day, U.S. President Trump said that the second phase of negotiations on the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip "has begun." On the 14th, Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Ansari said that negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have begun. (General reporter Zhang Zhuoya)