The security cabinet is reportedly scheduled to discuss renewing the war in Gaza on Sunday, as negotiations to disarm Hamas and demilitarize the Strip stall “Hamas is not standing by the agreement on disarmament. We are holding discussions with mediators,” an Israeli official told the Kan public broadcaster on Saturday evening. US President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip, which was initially embraced by Israel and Hamas, calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from the enclave and reconstruction to start as Hamas lays down its weapons.
The disarmament of Hamas has been a key sticking point in talks to implement the plan and cement the ceasefire reached in October, which halted two years of full-blown war triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. Violence has continued in Gaza, much of which remains in ruins Nickolay Mladenov, leading Trump’s Board of Peace, held talks with Hamas leaders for weeks, and toward the beginning of last month, gave the group until April 11 to accept the Board of Peace’s proposal for it to gradually hand over all of its arms.
The plan, partially leaked to the media, follows an eight-month timeline, beginning with Hamas handing over its heavy weaponry and maps of its tunnel network within 90 days. But Hamas has largely bucked the demands to give up all of its weapons, two Arab diplomats familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Saturday. Instead, the terror group submitted a counter-offer to the Board of Peace, insisting that the issue of its weapons only be addressed as part of a framework culminating in the establishment of a Palestinian state. (Read More)
