Trump team presses Hamas to lay down arms with new proposal

Trump team presses Hamas to lay down arms with new proposal Talks on disarmament had been placed on hold at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28. Sunday 22/03/2026 Nickolay Mladenov and Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair attend a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. WASHINGTON Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has presented Hamas with a written proposal on how it could lay down its weapons, two sources say, a step the Palestinian militants have thus far refused to take as the US president pushes on with his plan for Gaza’s future. The proposal, first reported by NPR, was submitted to Hamas during meetings in Cairo over the past week, one of the sources says. The talks were attended by Nickolay Mladenov and Aryeh Lightstone, the two sources familiar with the matter said. Mladenov is the Trump-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza. Lightstone is a US aide to Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump’s Gaza plan, to which Israel and Hamas agreed in October, sees Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and reconstruction starting as Hamas lays down its weapons. Mladenov on Thursday said that serious efforts were underway to bring relief to war-torn Gaza, with a framework agreed by the mediators that could advance reconstruction in the enclave, much of which lies in ruins. “It is now on the table. It requires one clear choice: full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs. In this season of hope, may those responsible make the right choice for the Palestinian people,” Mladenov said on X in a post for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. Representatives of Hamas are not immediately available for comment on the second day of the holiday. Talks on disarmament had been placed on hold at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28.
2026-03-22 13:15:39