Hamas said on Tuesday that it remained committed to the US-backed Gaza disarmament deal, a day after a source told The Times of Israel that the Board of Peace is considering abandoning its original framework, which would have seen the terror group disarming in phases, in favor of an all-at-once process supported by Israel.

The terror group agreed to the Board of Peace plan last month and has pushed to move forward with it, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected it, saying Israel will not conduct any withdrawals until Hamas has been completely disarmed.

Amid the disagreements, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner traveled to the region for a rare direct meeting with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on Sunday, which was followed by a meeting with Netanyahu the next day. According to a source directly familiar with the negotiations, the Board of Peace is now weighing a change in approach to get Israel on side, which would require Hamas to hand over its weapons in full before any Israeli withdrawal — though it now risks losing support of Hamas.

“Hamas is committed to this agreed-upon process,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP on Tuesday, referring to Trump’s original 15-point plan that the terror group agreed to last month.

“It is clear that, so far, the Israeli side has not given the mediators clear approval of the roadmap,” he said.

“There are timelines and procedural steps that need to be worked out in detail, but there must first be Israeli approval of the roadmap,” the spokesman added.

Under the 15-point plan, Hamas would be required to gradually hand over its weapons in different sectors of Gaza, as Israel conducts corresponding withdrawals from the Strip once the weapon handovers and tunnel destructions for a particular sector are verified by the Board of Peace.

But after Kushner’s meeting with Netanyahu on Monday, which also included Board of Peace officials Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair, a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the parties had agreed that “there would be........

© The Times of Israel