### Hamas Rejects US-Backed Disarmament Plan Amid Unresolved Ceasefire Violations
Palestinian militant group Hamas has flatly rejected a US-backed disarmament proposal put forward by the Board of Peace, framing the initiative as a deliberate trap designed to sow internal conflict and destabilize Palestinian governance in the Gaza Strip. Multiple Palestinian sources with direct knowledge of the closed-door Cairo talks shared details of the negotiations with Middle East Eye, outlining the group’s deep-seated opposition to the framework presented earlier this month.
From Hamas’ perspective, the proposal would leave Gaza’s Palestinian population completely defenseless while enabling Israeli-aligned armed gangs to operate unimpeded across the enclave, creating widespread chaos and disorder. A senior Gaza-based source close to the group confirmed the outright rejection, noting that opposition runs particularly strong within Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, which has labeled any disarmament agreement as nothing less than collective suicide. “They know that giving up their weapons is not an option and will not happen,” the source emphasized.
The plan was formally delivered to Hamas delegates by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza, who centered the entire proposal on coercing Hamas into relinquishing its weapons arsenal. Beyond the disarmament demand, Hamas has also decried a second unacceptable provision that would remove 20,000 sitting civil servants – nearly the entire administrative workforce that keeps basic services running across Gaza – from their positions. The source called the mass dismissal plan a catastrophic mistake, noting that these workers hold the cumulative expertise needed to address Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian and governance challenges, and replacing them en masse is fundamentally illogical.
A core non-negotiable demand from Hamas is that Israel must first fully comply with all obligations laid out in the first phase of the October 2023 US-brokered ceasefire before any talks on further steps, including disarmament, can begin. That ceasefire was negotiated to end a two-year Israeli military campaign that has claimed the lives of roughly 72,000 Palestinians and pushed Gaza’s 2.3 million residents into widespread mass starvation. Under the terms of the truce, Israel was required to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid entry, allowing up to 600 trucks of food, fuel, medical equipment, shelter materials and commercial goods to enter the enclave daily.
To date, Israel has failed to meet these requirements, maintaining harsh limits on aid deliveries that have left Gaza’s catastrophic humanitarian situation largely unchanged. Even after the ceasefire took effect, Israeli forces have killed more than 700 Palestinians in ongoing incursions and attacks across the Strip. When Hamas presented these demands to Mladenov during negotiations, the envoy offered no substantive commitments or responses to address Palestinian concerns.
Talks over the proposal have stretched on for two weeks, with multiple sessions marked by sharp tensions. Mladenov presented the plan as a non-negotiable take-it-or-leave-it offer to the Hamas delegation in Cairo, and at one point issued a 48-hour ultimatum: accept the terms or face a resumption of full-scale Israeli military operations. In a subsequent meeting, Mladenov was joined by unexpected high-level US officials, including Major General Jasper Jeffers, commander of the International Stabilisation Force, and senior US advisor Aryeh Lightstone. The unannounced addition of the US delegation was not coordinated in advance with Hamas, led by senior leader Khalil al-Hayya, and was viewed as an additional layer of pressure to force concessions, ultimately leading to a breakdown in talks with no agreement reached.
Egypt, one of the key mediators in the process, has also pushed Hamas to accept the proposal, despite internal concerns that the plan does not align with either Palestinian or Egyptian national interests. Sources note that Egyptian leadership is reluctant to publicly oppose or upset the US administration. In recent days, external pressure has grown to convince Hamas to grant preliminary approval for the proposal before hashing out specific details later, according to reporting from Asharq Al-Awsat. A revised version of the plan has recently been circulated that proposes moving to second-phase talks – which include disarmament – once Israel begins implementing its first-phase ceasefire obligations.
At present, it remains unclear whether Hamas will agree to the revised framework. Hamas continues to stand firm in its demand for legally binding, concrete guarantees that Israel will fully implement all first-phase ceasefire commitments before any discussions of further negotiations begin.