Amid Israeli pushback, source reveals Board of Peace weighing new disarmament framework

The Board of Peace is considering abandoning its phased framework for Hamas’s disarmament amid Israeli pushback to the US-controlled body’s original plan, a source directly familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Monday. Instead of a phased handover of weapons and corresponding Israeli withdrawals, the board is weighing a wholesale approach where Hamas would surrender all weapons across Gaza before the IDF pulls back to the border.

The original roadmap, approved by Hamas on July 30, divided the remaining 47 percent of the Gaza Strip under Hamas control into five sectors, envisioning successive demilitarization and troop redeployments. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected this framework, insisting that Israel will not conduct any withdrawals until Hamas has been completely disarmed.

An Israeli official acknowledged that the dispute remained unresolved during Monday’s meeting in Jerusalem between Netanyahu and top Trump aide Jared Kushner. While the source clarified that the Board of Peace has not yet officially abandoned the phased framework, they admitted that a wholesale approach is being considered.

Such a shift would require Hamas’s approval, likely dragging out the process. Arab diplomats have noted the difficulty of advancing any disarmament plan ahead of the October 27 Knesset election, given that Netanyahu is unlikely to make substantive concessions. Meanwhile, a Board of Peace official stated that Netanyahu and Kushner agreed that there will be no IDF redeployment from Gaza until the territory is fully demilitarized, a point the source noted was not the primary area of dispute, as the original plan only required redeployment closer to the border rather than a total exit.