Hamas is pressing mediators to secure changes to a plan presented more than a week ago by Nikolay Mladenov, the High Representative of the “Board of Peace,” which calls for the full disarmament of Gaza without exception.
A Hamas delegation in Cairo is holding intensive talks with Palestinian factions and Egyptian officials, alongside meetings with representatives of the Board of Peace, including Mladenov, who has already met the group again, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.
A senior Hamas official in Cairo said the movement has delivered a clear message to mediators: the proposal in its current form is unacceptable to Palestinians.
The official said amendments must bind Israel to complete the remaining terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and commit to the second phase, particularly a full and immediate withdrawal, in line with the 20-point plan presented by US President Donald Trump during negotiations last September.
Hamas, they said, is still consulting internally and with other factions, with no final position yet on disarmament. Any response will depend on changes to the plan, especially guarantees of Israeli withdrawal and an end to what the official described as repeated ceasefire violations.
The official also accused Israel of restricting aid and goods, engineering shortages, tightening movement through the Rafah crossing, and using armed groups to search and humiliate travelers.
They said talks with mediators are focused on forcing revisions to the proposal.
A second Palestinian faction source said the plan is unjust and requires major changes, not only on weapons but also on withdrawal mechanisms, reconstruction, and governance, which he said must remain purely Palestinian without foreign oversight.
Linking disarmament to second-phase measures, including reconstruction limited to disarmed areas, amounts to blackmail, he said, adding that all Palestinian factions reject such conditions.
Reuters cited three sources, two Egyptian and one Palestinian, as saying Hamas has told mediators it will not discuss disarmament without guarantees of a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as outlined in the Board of Peace proposal.
Hamas has also demanded an end to Israeli violations, full implementation of all provisions, and clarification over Israel’s expanding control in the enclave.
Two Hamas officials declined to comment, while the Israeli government and Board of Peace representatives did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
Israel insists on full disarmament of Gaza, including light and heavy weapons. The Board of Peace plan calls for dismantling tunnel networks and surrendering weapons in stages over eight months, with a full Israeli withdrawal only after Gaza is verified to be free of weapons.
Trump’s top Board of Peace envoy in the Middle East, Mladenov, said on X that all mediators had endorsed the plan and helped shape it before presenting it to Hamas.
"(The) international community has supported it, now is the time to agree to the framework for its implementation. For the sake of both Palestinians and Israelis, there is not time to lose," he said in the post.
