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Israel rejects withdrawal
Israel is demanding the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, as a precondition for any withdrawal process, a diplomatic source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
“There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed”
The same source said there will be no Israeli withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized, and that the issue of Gaza did not come up at all during the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.
At the same time, Reuters reported that talks between mediators and Hamas leaders in Cairo to reach an end to the conflict in Gaza have seen rare progress towards full implementation of a US-brokered Gaza peace plan, with discussions described as “positive” and “making progress” by a Hamas official and a diplomat close to the Cairo talks.
Reuters also said Israeli strikes killed at least six Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, including two children, medics said, while Hamas leaders held talks with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey on the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.
The Financial Express added that the negotiations were making progress toward a roadmap that would see all heavy and light weapons in Gaza decommissioned, even as the Israeli response would be the test of whether a broad accord could be reached.
Cairo talks and competing demands
The Times of Israel said a breakthrough was made this week in disarmament talks between Hamas and the US-controlled Board of Peace, with an announcement on Hamas’s agreement to a 15-point Board of Peace proposal expected in the coming days.
But an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the 15-point proposal “does not adequately address” Jerusalem’s demands for “complete demilitarization,” which the official said was “a precondition for any process.”
The same Israeli official reiterated that “There will be no IDF withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is fully demilitarized,” while the Board of Peace proposal being discussed would see Hamas over an eight-month period gradually hand over its weapons to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
In parallel, Reuters reported that Hamas leaders were holding talks with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey on the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, and that a Hamas official said the group was coming with a “positive and good” response.
Reuters also reported that the progress would be tested by Israel's response and whether it allowed a broad accord to be reached, as the key sticking point remained whether Hamas would fully disarm.
What is at stake next
The Jerusalem Post described a proposed road map for Gaza’s future governance and security arrangements as centered on “the complete decommissioning of all weapons” and a phased transition of responsibilities to a technocratic government, with “There will be no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people.”
“There will be no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people”
It said the framework would establish a process for eliminating all tunnels, weapons depots, and weapons production facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, and that the IDF would withdraw to the “Yellow Line,” with any further withdrawal dependent on implementation and only once Hamas surrenders its weapons.
The Times of Israel added that the proposal would gradually hand over weapons to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, with the International Stabilization Force and Palestinian police tasked with assisting in the process, while Israeli-armed anti-Hamas militia groups in Gaza would also be forced to give up their weapons.
Reuters reported that the plan calls for a surge in humanitarian aid, governance by a civilian Palestinian administration, the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international force to help maintain security, but that progress had stalled in previous months.
With the roadmap framed as reciprocal implementation rather than trust, Reuters said a Hamas official and a diplomat close to the Cairo talks described the discussions as “positive” and “making progress,” while the Israeli official position in the same reporting remained that the proposed terms were not satisfactory.
