Trump’s Gaza plan on hold as Iran war pauses disarmament talks, sources say

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JERUSALEM – Talks to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran, sparking a broader Middle East war, three sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have said.

The pause threatens to stall implementation of Mr Trump’s flagship Middle East peace initiative, which he has cast as a major foreign policy objective. It comes less than a month after he secured billions of dollars in pledges for Gaza from Gulf Arab states – countries that are now facing Iranian attacks as the conflict widens.

Mr Trump’s Gaza plan has hinged, in part, on whether Hamas militants would lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty, a step intended to pave the way for reconstruction and further Israeli military withdrawals.

White House mediators have been back-channelling between Israel and Hamas on the disarmament question.

Negotiations on this and other issues were paused when the Iran war began on Feb 28, the three sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks. The pause in disarmament talks has not been previously reported.

Mr Zaha Hassan, of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which pledged funds for Mr Trump’s Board of Peace mission, may be questioning if this is “really money well spent now that they are dodging rocket fire”.

One of the sources, who has direct knowledge of work by Mr Trump’s Board of Peace mission, described the pause as a brief, minor delay caused by flight disruptions preventing mediators and representatives from travelling around the region. Talks have frequently been held in Cairo.

Over the longer term, the Board of Peace believes the war could accelerate a resolution of the disarmament issue by removing Iranian influence, which has long supported Hamas financially, the source said.

Another source – a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort – said Hamas had been expected to hold talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators on the day the war erupted, but the meeting was scrapped, and no new date has been set.

A Hamas official confirmed that talks on Mr Trump’s Gaza plan have been frozen for now, but declined to elaborate.

War continues

Israel’s military has eased off strikes in Gaza since the start of the war but, citing Hamas threats, has not ceased attacks, as Israeli jets carry out bombing campaigns in Iran and Lebanon.

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Feb 28, health officials say.

“The moment the war on Iran is over, (Israel) will come back at us with the same frequency, with the same violence,” said Mr Talal Hamouda, 46, who lives in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip with his wife and five children.

Hamas, for its part, has continued to reassert its grip in areas under its control in Gaza since the war began. Sources close to the group say Hamas fighters in recent days ambushed several Israeli-backed militia members in Gaza’s north and south, killing at least two people.

Mr Trump’s plan for Gaza began with an October ceasefire that left Israel controlling more than half of the territory, with Hamas controlling the rest. The initiative appeared to gain momentum in the month leading up to the war, including the reopening of Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt and new pledges for reconstruction.

Much of Washington’s multinational coordination on Gaza policy has been run out of a US-led military compound in southern Israel. Foreign diplomats posted there said momentum behind the plan appeared to stall as the Iran war escalated.

Three diplomats said the Civil Military Coordination Centre scaled back to minimal operations when the war started, and that there were concerns it could be targeted by Iranian missiles.

The diplomats said senior US officials now appear focused on the Iran war, leaving Gaza with limited top-level attention. Still, working-level discussions among countries have continued in the hope that the plan could move forward once the war ends.

Mr Natan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said: “Only sustained attention from the Trump administration can keep the plan on track, and the war with Iran has the potential to undermine exactly that.

“Without it, the divergent aims of the two warring parties could easily lead to very different outcomes, and potentially to a resumption of fighting.” REUTERS