Hamas urges US pressure on Jerusalem over Gaza plan; Israel said to warn of ‘ambush’

Terror organization claims it’s ready to disarm under Board of Peace roadmap, which Israeli security officials reportedly warn that Hamas signed to prevent renewed IDF action

As the US-backed Board of Peace pushed ahead with its roadmap for postwar Gaza, Hamas asserted Saturday it remained ready to proceed with the plan and urged Washington to pressure Israel to implement it, as Israeli officials warned that the terror organization was exploiting the process to prevent renewed military action.

Hamas informed US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace that it stood by the latest stage of the plan, under which its operatives would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee in the war-battered territory.

“Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement,” a Hamas official told AFP.

“Hamas is urging the US administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Trump last week hailed as a breakthrough that Hamas had agreed to disarmament under the plan, with the Board of Peace saying Israel would in tandem carry out a phased withdrawal from much of Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday with the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, who backtracked and said Israel would withdraw only after a full disarmament by Hamas.

Israeli officials, however, have cast Hamas’s acceptance of the roadmap in starkly different terms, warning that the terror group is seeking to use the diplomatic process to buy time and prevent Israel from resuming military operations in Gaza.

Ministers and security chiefs reportedly met Thursday to discuss how Israel should respond to the plan, which Jerusalem opposes.

While the security cabinet approved having an International Stabilization Force enter Gaza to disarm Hamas and assume control of the territory, Netanyahu has said that Israel did not agree to the terms of the disarmament plan, which was accepted by the terrorist group last week.

Some ministers have publicly urged the premier to openly declare that Israel will not abide by the terms.

“Hamas agreed to the 15-point plan, but hasn’t abandoned the vision of destroying Israel,” warned Brig. Gen. Ofir Mizrahi-Rozen, head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Department, according to the Israel Hayom daily.

“It is apparent that there is a Hamas effort to put the ball in our court,” he reportedly added, warning the conflict could be internationalized if foreign forces from hostile states such as Turkey and Qatar — which have expressed interest in sending troops — were deployed close to Israeli border towns.

Shin Bet chief David Zini reportedly said that for Hamas, the agreement “is a process of strategic deception aimed at buying time and ensuring we don’t return to [military] action in Gaza before the [October 27] election.”

“This is a strategic ambush by Hamas,” he reportedly asserted.

According to the Ynet news site, Zini also said Hamas views the roadmap signing as a “diplomatic October 7,” equivalent to the military success of the 2023 invasion.

The Israel Hayom report added that National Security Adviser Shmuel Ben Ezra said Israel has handed the US a list of corrections it is demanding to the roadmap, which he said contradicts understandings that Netanyahu claimed to reach with Washington in November 2025. It was not clear, however, what purported understandings the report was referring to, and Netanyahu himself cheered the UN’s adoption that month of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza — which mandates the disarmament of Hamas and the Israeli withdrawals.

He added that Israel was facing intense pressure to withdraw to the original Yellow Line set last year — which handed Israel control of 52 percent of the Strip, which it has since expanded to 70% — and to stop targeted strikes on terror officials.

Minister Ze’ev Elkin was quoted as calling for Israel to resume operations in Gaza in a way that makes clear that it does not accept the recent developments, which include a near-total 14-day freeze on military operations and strikes.

“If Israel doesn’t carry out offensive action for two weeks, the meaning is that we have accepted and entered the process. That’s why we need to publish that we are not signing these 15 points,” Elkin said.

Israel Hayom reported that ministers Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Strock and Avi Dichter backed this demand.

Smotrich was quoted as telling Netanyahu: “You are a master at maneuvering, but now that there is an official document, we must delegitimize this document. We can’t maneuver.”

The IDF has vowed to keep hitting Hamas, which carried out the worst attack ever against Israel on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists who invaded the south killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

But Israeli operations in Gaza, while ongoing, appear to have decreased in intensity in recent days. On Saturday, the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis reported three people injured by Israeli army gunfire.

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed 1,257 Palestinians since October last year, when the two sides agreed to a ceasefire backed by Trump, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period.