US and Hamas officials this week held their first direct talks since the start of the Gaza ceasefire in October last year, CNN reported Wednesday.

Citing two unnamed Hamas sources, the network said senior US adviser Aryeh Lightstone met chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Tuesday night.

Also at the meeting was Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace set up by US President Donald Trump.

The US-brokered October 2025 ceasefire deal mostly ended two years of fighting triggered by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, and the first phase secured the release of all remaining hostages taken by the Palestinian terror group, in exchange for Israel’s release of thousands of Palestinian security prisoners and detainees.

The second phase, according to a 20-point plan proposed by Trump, is set to see a multinational force take control of Gaza, alongside a technocratic Palestinian committee, as the IDF withdraws and Hamas disarms. Gaza, for now, is bisected by the Yellow Line which divides between Israeli- and Hamas-held territories.

Al-Hayya reportedly told Lightstone that to move to the second stage of the plan, Israel must fully keep to all commitments from the first stage of the ceasefire, including halting strikes on Gaza and allowing in more humanitarian aid.

Board of Peace and international mediators are suggesting ways to advance the second phase, but Hamas is reportedly unhappy with a proposal that it disarm before it is satisfied that Israel has implemented the first phase requirements.

A senior Hamas source told CNN that the proposal “reduces the whole process to a single clause – disarmament – while other first phase obligations are postponed or marginalized,” and “reflects a major imbalance in the ordering of priorities: Israel’s security first, while Palestinians’ humanitarian, political and administrative rights are postponed.”

Israel, meanwhile, is growing impatient with the stalled situation, the source said.

Mladenov, the former UN diplomat charged with implementing Trump’s plan for postwar Gaza, has been passing on to Hamas an Israeli warning that if it does not agree to disarm, Israel will go back to war, a threat that Israeli officials have also made publicly.

Israel, which is insisting on full disarmament of Hamas, has continued to carry out periodical strikes on Hamas assets and other Gaza targets it says were involved in breaches or planned violations of the ceasefire.

On Thursday, the IDF said it killed the commander of Hamas’s communications unit in a recent strike in Gaza City, identifying him as Ahmad Abu Khadra.

According to the military, Abu Khadra was involved in advancing imminent attack plans against IDF troops and was targeted in a precision strike.

In a separate strike earlier this week, the IDF said it killed two operatives from Hamas’s production unit – Islam Hisham Riyad Kanita and Mahmoud Hamed Youssef Hamduna – who were allegedly working to rebuild the group’s military capabilities, including during the ongoing ceasefire.

צה"ל חיסל מפקד ביחידת הקשר של ארגון הטרור חמאס: שני מפקדים ביחידת הייצור חוסלו בתקיפה נוספת כוחות צה"ל בפיקוד הדרום תקפו וחיסלו שלשום את אחמד אבו חצ'ירה, מפקד ביחידת הקשר של ארגון הטרור חמאס במרחב העיר עזה. אבו חצרה פעל לקידום מתווי טרור בטווח הזמן המיידי נגד כוחות צה"ל, היווה… pic.twitter.com/xjKF4FcVt2 — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 16, 2026

צה"ל חיסל מפקד ביחידת הקשר של ארגון הטרור חמאס: שני מפקדים ביחידת הייצור חוסלו בתקיפה נוספת

כוחות צה"ל בפיקוד הדרום תקפו וחיסלו שלשום את אחמד אבו חצ'ירה, מפקד ביחידת הקשר של ארגון הטרור חמאס במרחב העיר עזה.

אבו חצרה פעל לקידום מתווי טרור בטווח הזמן המיידי נגד כוחות צה"ל, היווה… pic.twitter.com/xjKF4FcVt2

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 16, 2026

In the latter half of March, Hamas was presented with a proposal for the gradual disarmament of all groups in Gaza in the coming months, two Arab diplomats familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel at the time.

The proposal requires Hamas in the first stage to — within 90 days — hand over its heavy weaponry, such as missiles and rocket launchers, in addition to maps of its tunnel network.

Last week, diplomats told The Times of Israel that Hamas is not expected to give final approval to the plan.

While Hamas negotiators have expressed willingness in talks with Arab mediators to hand over the terror group’s heavy weapons, they have insisted on maintaining lighter weapons, arguing that they are necessary for self-defense, one Arab diplomat said.

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