Gaza mediators to resume Hamas disarmament talks in Egypt looking to unblock impasse |
Gaza mediators were set to renew disarmament talks with Hamas in Egypt on Thursday and were considering alternatives to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, two Arab diplomats involved in the process told The Times of Israel.
The talks have largely hit a wall, with Hamas refusing to accept the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal, arguing that Israel should first be held to the terms of the first phase.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated violations of the ceasefire that ended two years of devastating warfare. Hamas is refusing to disarm, while Israel has continued carrying out near-daily strikes throughout Gaza since the ceasefire, justifying them by saying it is striking “imminent” threats to its forces.
While the US-led Board of Peace tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza has not given up completely on the possibility that talks with Hamas might go somewhere after months of little progress, the panel was increasingly considering alternatives to Trump’s plan, the two diplomats said.
Most prominent of those alternatives are ones that would see reconstruction allowed to begin in Gaza areas still occupied by Israel. Those parts were supposed to make up some 53% of the Strip, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that he’d ordered troops to expand that to 70%, squeezing some 2 million Palestinians, mostly living in tents, into what is left of the........