President Trump’s Board of Peace is demanding that Hamas finalize an agreement to demilitarize Gaza by the end of this week, according to four diplomats briefed on the talks, ramping up pressure on the Palestinian militant group to give up power.
The demand by the Board of Peace, an international body established to oversee the six-month-old cease-fire in Gaza, would require Hamas to agree to eventually give up virtually all its weapons and share maps of its underground tunnel network.
The deadline reflects both the Trump administration’s eagerness to secure a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and its growing impatience with Hamas, even at a time when U.S. and Israeli attention is focused on a new war with Iran.
Board of Peace and Hamas representatives are expected to meet in Cairo on Tuesday to conclude a demilitarization agreement by the end of the week, the four diplomats said. While the officials were firm on the deadline, it could change.
If Gaza is demilitarized, Israeli forces would withdraw from much or all of the territory, according to an internal Board of Peace document obtained by The New York Times and authenticated by two officials. Longstanding Israeli restrictions on the entry of vital goods into the territory would be lifted, militants would be granted amnesty, and caravans for temporary housing would be delivered, it said.
The Times reviewed internal Board of Peace documents and interviewed nine officials briefed on or involved in the talks for this article. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board’s senior official for Gaza, delivered the disarmament proposal to Hamas leaders last month.
Mr. Mladenov seemed to suggest on Friday that Hamas would face grave consequences if it refuses to demilitarize Gaza.
“He who will not cross the river will drown in the sea,” he posted on X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to disarm Hamas by force if it refuses to relinquish its weapons.
Hamas remains the most powerful Palestinian force in Gaza. And as Israel approaches national elections expected later this year, Mr. Netanyahu could be inclined to launch a new military campaign in Gaza, especially if Hamas remains in control there, Israeli experts say. Some Netanyahu supporters are urging him to dislodge Hamas from power by force.
If Hamas agrees to disarm, it could lay the groundwork for reconstruction of Gaza, most of which was damaged or destroyed in two years of war. The United States and Israel have conditioned rebuilding on Hamas relinquishing its arsenal.
Many Hamas members view giving up weapons as tantamount to surrender.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, indicated Hamas was averse to the Board’s demilitarization plan, saying the group opposed making concessions to Israel at the negotiating table that Israeli forces failed to extract on the battlefield. Abu Obeida is a nom de guerre for the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing.
“Dealing with the weapons file in this rude manner is a scandalous effort by the occupation to continue killing and exterminating at the expense of our people,” he said on Sunday. Israel, Abu Obeida said, should implement its obligations under the Gaza cease-fire agreement from October 2025 before discussions about Hamas’s weapons occur.
In meetings in Cairo last week, Hamas leaders protested to Board of Peace representatives that Israel was failing to uphold the October cease-fire.
In particular, they said Israel had not allowed in a sufficient number of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and commercial goods. They also objected to ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza, said two officials in the militant group.
Israel has killed hundreds of people in Gaza since the cease-fire came into effect in mid-October, including militants and civilians. Israeli officials said some of those killed were militants posing an immediate threat to its forces in Gaza. They have also acknowledged staging attacks against Hamas operatives deep inside cities, something that Hamas says violated the cease-fire.
Israel closed border crossings into Gaza at the start of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran. While it has since reopened them, the flow of aid and commercial goods has repeatedly fallen short of 4,200 trucks that the October cease-fire agreement says should enter every week.
During the week of March 8, roughly 1,000 trucks entered the territory, according to data collected by a U.S. military-led coordination hub in Israel.
The Board of Peace has told Hamas it would demand Israel follow through with its commitments to the October cease-fire, the four officials said. It was already pressing Israel to allow at least 600 trucks to enter on Monday, said two of the officials.
Over the weekend, Hamas officials deliberated over their next steps in Istanbul, where they met Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president. Arab and Turkish mediators have been encouraging Hamas to engage constructively with the demilitarization plan, two Arab officials said.
Nidal Kuhail, 31, a displaced person in central Gaza, said he believes in any agreement that will bring life back to Gaza.
“After all of this destruction, the most important thing is reconstruction,” he said. “If the deal being offered will accomplish that, Hamas must accept it.”
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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