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Road map in Cairo
Hamas and Gaza ceasefire mediators reached broad agreement on a proposed “road map” during meetings in Cairo, according to two Hamas sources and a Palestinian faction official, with negotiators now awaiting Israel’s response.
The talks brought together mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, along with Nickolay Mladenov and members of his team including US advisers, as well as Egypt’s intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad.
The sources said negotiators reached consensus on nearly all 15 provisions presented in April by Mladenov and revised several times since, while Articles 5 and 8 remained unresolved, including language on employees of the Hamas-run administration in Gaza and the collection and storage of weapons.
Hamas official Basem Naim accused Mladenov of favoring Israel after remarks he made following a donors’ conference in Brussels, disputing Mladenov’s claim that humanitarian aid flows into Gaza had improved and saying Israel continued military operations despite the ceasefire.
The same sources emphasized that Hamas told mediators that a proposed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza should govern the entire enclave rather than only areas vacated by Israeli forces, and they warned against Israeli attempts to restrict the committee’s authority in Rafah or confine it to “safe” zones.
Hamas signals shift
Hamas says it formally stepped aside from governing Gaza by dissolving the administrative body that oversaw the enclave throughout the war, while leaving the group’s military wing intact, in a move analysts say is intended to pave the way for a technocratic administration.
On July 6, Hamas’ Government Media Office announced that Mohammed Al-Farra, head of the Government Emergency Committee, had resigned and that the committee itself had been dissolved “to facilitate the administrative and governmental transition” to the US-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the move “a positive step forward on the path to implementing the ceasefire deal,” saying the decision was taken “in order to remove any pretexts for the occupation, which continues its aggression and war of extermination.”
Israel quickly dismissed the move as a “stunt,” while Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham House said, “There is no government unless it is a monopoly on the use of legitimate violence,” arguing that the question of Hamas’ weapons would reveal far more about intentions.
The article also links the governance debate to the ceasefire roadmap, noting that the NCAG was established by the Board of Peace after Trump brokered the Hamas-Israel ceasefire last October and that the body has remained outside Gaza.
Weapons clause still blocks
A new negotiating round in Cairo is set to begin to formulate a revised proposal acceptable to both sides, with officials from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey participating to discuss ideas raised with Hamas and Israel in recent weeks.
“Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo to resume negotiations to stabilize the ceasefire and move to the second phase of the agreement”
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolai Mladenov, last month presented a paper centered on disarming Hamas and transferring governmental tasks to a National Committee for the administration of Gaza formed by the council, and Hamas Political Bureau member Bassem Naeem said, “If the Israeli side is negotiating with us on the premise that we have been defeated, it should reassess its understanding of the situation.”
A Palestinian official said the new round would discuss the Peace Council’s paper on mechanisms for moving to the second phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement and Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in Gaza, adding that the paper needs substantive amendments because it is “biased toward the occupation and focuses on the resistance's weapons.”
In parallel, Al Jazeera Net reported that behind the scenes in Cairo, negotiators settled Item 5 on the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, but failed to resolve the sticking point over Item 8 related to the weapons of the resistance.
Al Jazeera Net also said Hamas requested to return to Turkey to consult higher leadership about a formulation that added “restricting the infrastructure” of the resistance alongside “heavy weapons,” a wording not accepted by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front.
