Hamas response to Board of Peace bucks demands to hand over weapons — Arab diplomats

Hamas largely bucked demands to give up all of its weapons in a response to a Board of Peace disarmament proposal submitted in Cairo on Saturday, two Arab diplomats familiar with the negotiations tell The Times of Israel.

While the US-led Board of Peace tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza has been pushing Hamas to accept a phased return of its weapons, the terror group’s counter-offer insisted that the issue only be part of a framework culminating in the establishment of a Palestinian state.

While US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, on which the Board of Peace is operating, speaks generally of eventual Palestinian self-determination, Hamas in its response demanded more definitive guarantees toward that end before discussing the handover of its weapons, the two Arab diplomats say.

Hamas also demanded that Israel cease violating commitments pertaining to the first phase of the ceasefire deal reached in October, taking issue with Israel’s expansion of the eastern half of Gaza that it controls, its strikes on fighters on the western side of the Strip and daily entries of humanitarian aid that have fallen below agreed-upon terms, the Arab diplomats add.

One of the Arab diplomats maintains that it is still possible for the mediators to coax Hamas to gradually give up its weapons, but says similar pressure will also have to be applied by the US on Israel to uphold its commitments.

The diplomat says such simultaneous pressure on Israel and Hamas is unlikely to come while international attention is largely focused on Iran.

However, the Arab official acknowledges that the status quo in Gaza will be harder to reverse the longer it is allowed to remain in place.