Israel Raises Concerns Over Hamas Disarmament Framework as Strikes in Gaza Continue
The Facts
- Trump announced last Thursday what he called a major milestone in his Gaza peace plan, under which Hamas would disarm and Israeli forces would withdraw from the enclave in phases.
- Hamas said on Friday, July 31, that it would give up its weapons under the Trump plan, handing them to a new Palestinian governing committee, while attaching conditions.
- Netanyahu's office said on Monday that Israel had conveyed comments and concerns about the proposed framework to the United States and that the publicly released version does not reflect Israel's position, while demanding more concrete disarmament by Hamas.
- Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, met Netanyahu and his team on Monday in talks the board described as "constructive and detailed" and focused on decommissioning weapons and moving to civilian governance; two people familiar with the meeting said Mladenov urged Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes.
- Israeli strikes continued through the weekend despite the announced next phase, with Gaza's health ministry reporting 19 people killed and 35 wounded in 24 hours; other tallies for the weekend ranged from 18 to 28 killed, among the highest daily tolls since the ceasefire began.
- The parties disagree on sequencing: Israel's defense minister said troops would not move before Hamas disarms and its tunnels are destroyed, and the Board of Peace said the IDF would not leave the so-called Yellow Line until Hamas fully disarms, while Hamas says Israel must stop attacks before it implements the weapons provisions.
- Netanyahu did not publicly state for several days whether he accepted the agreement; the statement from his office on Monday was the first clear public reaction from the prime minister's office.
- Netanyahu faces a reelection contest in October and has publicly emphasized his relationship with Trump, whom he met last week.
- Gaza's health ministry says more than 73,000 people have been killed since October 2023, including about 1,250 since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.
Context
What is the Board of Peace and what is it trying to do?
The Board of Peace is the US-backed body overseeing Gaza's postwar transition, with Nickolay Mladenov serving as director-general and high representative for Gaza and Aryeh Lightstone as a senior adviser U.S. News & World R…,Jerusalem Post,India Today. Its current work centers on decommissioning the weapons of Palestinian factions and standing up a civilian government in place of rule by armed groups Jerusalem Post,Arutz Sheva Israel …. Mladenov said on X that he and his team were working "around the clock" with the parties, mediators and regional partners to de-escalate and create space for implementing the plan, and noted that two days of strikes had killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies Jerusalem Post,Middle East Eye.
Why is implementation stalled?
Each side wants the other to act first. Israel's defense minister said on Sunday that Israeli troops in Gaza would not move before Hamas disarms and its tunnels are destroyed, and the Board of Peace said the military would remain along the Yellow Line until Hamas fully disarms Reuters,Arutz Sheva Israel …. Hamas, in turn, insists Israel halt its attacks before it begins implementing the weapons provisions and wants a troop withdrawal first Reuters,Al Jazeera Online. Israel has also pointed to intelligence indicating Hamas has been rearming since the October ceasefire NDTV.
What role is Iran playing?
Hamas said on Monday that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian telephoned Khalil al-Hayya to congratulate him on his election as head of the group's political bureau and told him Iran would continue supporting the Palestinian cause; the statement was posted in Arabic and reviewed by Fox News Digital Fox News. This account comes from a single outlet in the source pool and Hamas's own statement, so it should be treated as attributed rather than independently confirmed Fox News.
How are Palestinians in Gaza describing the situation?
Palestinians in Gaza told Reuters that Trump's promotion of the disarmament deal was out of step with conditions on the ground after one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire Reuters,U.S. News & World R…. Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Israel's continued strikes were obstructing implementation of the agreement and called for attacks to stop entirely Haberler. Hamas has separately asked mediators to intervene directly to press Israel for a full halt to the fighting, warning that continued strikes threaten existing agreements TASS.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Hamas's pledge to hand over weapons is conditional and the sequencing is unresolved, and strikes have continued through the announced next phase at some of the ceasefire's highest daily tolls.
- Where Left and Right split
- The left and the right split on what the waiting costs: lives lost now, or an unverified arsenal later.
How left and right read it
Nineteen killed and 35 wounded in 24 hours, among the highest daily tolls since the ceasefire — and for several days the prime minister said nothing publicly about whether he accepted the deal announced last Thursday, while facing a reelection contest in October. A dispute over sequencing, disarmament first or attacks stopped first, is being settled over the bodies of people with no say in it. Civilian lives are not a bargaining position.
“Instead, the Israeli leader's silence was accompanied by a sharp increase in airstrikes over the weekend which killed 28 people in the enclave - the deadliest toll in weeks - even though the agreement specifically called for a halt to attacks.” — CNN International
Hamas says it will hand over weapons — with conditions, and only after Israel stops striking. That is a promise offered in exchange for a real, irreversible concession, and Israel is right to insist troops hold until the arsenal is surrendered and the tunnels destroyed. Tehran's backing, as Fox News put it, "raises fresh questions about whether Hamas is prepared to surrender the arsenal at the core of its power." Verification, not sequencing built on trust.
“Tehran's backing raises fresh questions about whether Hamas is prepared to surrender the arsenal at the core of its power” — Fox News
This isn't a story about a sequencing dispute — it's about which risk each side counts as the real one, the deaths piling up during the delay or the arsenal nobody has verified is gone.
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