ISRAELI OCCUPIED GAZA, 01 July. - (ANA) - Mediators have drawn up a new proposal for the disarmament of Hamas that includes Israeli-backed militias in Gaza giving up their weapons and the rehabilitation of about 10,000 members of the territory's Hamas-linked police force to continue maintaining law and order in the war-devastated enclave.

 

Hamas has cited the threat from the militias as one of the reasons for refusing to fully disarm, along with Israel's failure to provide adequate humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory under the terms of US President Donald Trump's peace plan.

 

Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad and his Turkish counterpart, Ibrahim Kallin, met Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal, Khalil Al Hayya and Mohammed Hassan in Cairo on Tuesday, according to an official Egyptian statement.

 

The sources said the latest proposal, while showing a large degree of flexibility, was unlikely to be accepted by Israel, which insists on Hamas's unconditional and complete disarmament and has made clear it has no plans to withdraw from Gaza.

 

However, close US allies Egypt, Turkey and Qatar will be looking to Mr Trump to pressure Israel to reciprocate their proposal's flexibility so that his Gaza plan moves closer to fruition, according to the sources. The US President views the peace plan as a milestone achievement for his administration.

 

Under the first phase of the Trump plan, a ceasefire went into force last October, pausing two years of war between Israel and Hamas that devastated Gaza, killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, displaced most of its 2.3 million residents and created a humanitarian crisis.

 

In the first phase, Israel also released thousands of Palestinian detainees in exchange for dozens of hostages held by Hamas since its October 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people and ignited the war.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/01 July 2026 - - -