Trump council urged Hamas to disarm

A peace body linked to US President Donald Trump has reportedly sent Hamas a written list of conditions for giving up its weapons. NPR and Reuters said the proposal was delivered in Cairo last week during talks involving the council’s director general, Nikolay Mladenov, and Aryeh Lightstone, an adviser to Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Reports Dw.com.

Mladenov later wrote on X that only one clear option was being offered: the full disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups, with no exceptions. Hamas has not publicly commented on the reported proposal. According to the reports, the discussions were later put on hold after the outbreak of war involving the United States and Israel in Iran on February 28.

The issue is central to plans for Gaza’s future. Analysts have said roughly $70 billion will be needed to fully rebuild the enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted reconstruction can begin only after Hamas is disarmed, while the group has firmly rejected that demand. No country involved in stabilization efforts has so far agreed to enforce such a step by force.

The current conflict began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw around 250 hostages taken to Gaza. Israel then launched a war against Hamas. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 169,000 wounded. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, 2025.