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Framework, disarmament demand
Nickolay Mladenov, the former UN diplomat charged with implementing the plan of U.S. President Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip in the post-war period, said mediator countries of the ceasefire agreed on a 'framework' aimed at rebuilding Gaza but that Hamas would have to be disarmed.
Mladenov wrote on X that the United States, Qatar, and Egypt agreed on a 'framework' likely to 'unblock reconstruction, revitalize communities, and bring us closer to unity and a negotiated solution to the Palestinian question,' and he said implementing it 'requires a clear choice: the complete disarmament of Hamas and all armed groups, with no exceptions.'
A senior American official told NPR that the mediators handed Hamas a formal proposal in Cairo last week, and Hamas was invited to respond within about a week.
The Times of Israël also described a ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025 that largely ended two years of conflict sparked by Hamas’s armed men against Israel, and it said the first phase of the truce allowed the release of all hostages still held in the terrorist group’s prisons in exchange for Israel’s release of thousands of prisoners and Palestinian detainees imprisoned for national security offenses.
The article added that Gaza’s civilian governance, so far in Hamas’s hands, must be transferred to a committee of Palestinian technocrats operating under the auspices of the Trump Peace Council, while the majority of committee members live outside Gaza and have not been able to enter the Strip.
Proposal rejected, talks stall
Middle East Eye reported that the United States and the Israeli occupation rejected a joint Palestinian proposal presented by Palestinian factions, including Hamas, during the latest round of negotiations on the future of the Gaza Strip.
The site said the proposal linked disarmament of the factions to the establishment of a Palestinian state and security guarantees, and it quoted a senior Palestinian source saying the document called for tying negotiations on disarming Hamas and other groups to granting political rights within the national framework.
Middle East Eye also said the mediators and the Americans rejected the paper on Saturday and conveyed threatening messages from the Americans to the Palestinian negotiating team, while the Palestinian factions maintained that disarmament cannot precede a political settlement that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The article described Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem saying a delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya held meetings in Cairo with the mediators and guarantors to discuss ways to implement the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas brokered by the United States and which entered into force in October.
It further reported that the full text of the agreement published by Middle East Eye identified six phases, including resuming humanitarian aid and the formation of an international force to implement the agreement, and it said Israel did not comply with terms requiring up to 600 trucks daily carrying food, fuel, medical supplies, shelter materials, and consumer goods.
Hamas consults in Cairo
Hamas said it conducted intensive consultations in Cairo with mediators and Palestinian factions to remove obstacles to implementing the first-phase commitments of the Trump plan, and it said it would submit its response after completing consultations with the leadership of the movement and the Palestinian factions.
“Hamas: Meetings in Cairo on completing the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal”
In a statement, the movement said it had 'conducted numerous meetings and consultations in Cairo with the mediators and Palestinian factions regarding the implementation of the remaining obligations of the first phase (the Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement)' and that it was 'keen to continue negotiations with the mediators to remove all obstacles.'
Arab 48 also reported that Nikolai Miladinov told Reuters he was 'somewhat optimistic' about reaching an agreement on a plan to disarm Hamas and other armed factions in the Strip, noting it 'will take some time.'
Separately, Al-Jazeera Net quoted Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem saying Hamas and the Palestinian factions responded positively to proposals put forward by mediators at the recent Cairo meetings, and he said the ball is now in the court of the occupation and the Gaza Peace Council represented by its executive director Nikolai Miladinov.
Al-Jazeera Net added that Qasem said the actual implementation of Trump's peace plan requires pressuring the occupation to implement what remains of the first phase, stop ongoing violations, and accept reasonable approaches regarding the paths of the second phase, while the resistance factions refuse to disarm before Israeli forces withdraw from the Strip.
