Walking back claim disarmament deal already started, Board of Peace official says it aims to commence plan in coming days

Walking back claim Hamas disarmament deal had already started, Board of Peace official says it aims to commence plan in the coming days

After a Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel on Thursday that Hamas’s approval of a disarmament plan immediately triggered the first 14 days of the deal, the official walks that back and acknowledges that the agreement has not yet entered into place.

The Board of Peace official says that it hopes it will in the coming days.

Once in place, the deal begins with a 14-day period during which the sides would finalize the timeline for the full implementation of Hamas’s disarmament over a period of 200 to 350 days, officials told reporters on a briefing call on Thursday.

But the hold-off on commencing the deal may have to do with Israel’s opposition to it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on it on the record, but two statements attributed to a “senior Israeli official” since Thursday said that Jerusalem does not approve of the disarmament plan and accordingly will not withdraw.

Moreover, the IDF just announced that it had conducted a series of strikes against Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, a further signal that it doesn’t intend to cooperate with the disarmament plan, which would require it to halt all military operations in the Strip.