Trump will be ‘very disappointed’ if Israel obstructs his Gaza plan, US official warns

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Donald Trump will be “very disappointed” if Israel doesn’t allow for the advancement of his 20-point plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, a senior US official said on Thursday.

The warning was issued during a briefing with reporters shortly after Trump announced that Hamas had approved the disarmament plan put forward by his Board of Peace.

Responding to reports of a breakthrough in talks between the Board of Peace and Hamas in Egypt earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement pouring cold water on the optimism by claiming that the disarmament proposal did not meet Israel’s demands for a full demilitarization of Gaza in exchange for any withdrawals from the Strip.

The statement apparently irked the Trump administration, prompting the senior US official to tell reporters, “We’re not asking Israel to do anything that isn’t in the 20-point plan that they agreed to initially, and so we’re very confident they will adhere to it. If they don’t, President Trump would be very, very disappointed.”

“We just need them to keep to the original agreement that got their hostages home and ended the war. Gaza was the biggest thorn in their side for many years,” the official continued. “With all of the different issues they have going on right now, this is not something they want to escalate as an issue right now.”

“We believe that they’ll continue to be a good partner in this and comply,” the US official added.

“Israel didn’t believe we’d get the deal done to get the hostages out. They didn’t believe we’d get the bodies out. They’re very skeptical that Hamas will disarm… But Hamas did make a deal… and Hamas did come through by getting the bodies out and the hostages, so our intention is to hold Israel to its commitments as well and make sure we can be a fair broker.”

The US official also called out Israel for objecting to including Qatar and Turkey in the Board of Peace.

“There was a lot of criticism, particularly in Israel, when we invited Turkey and Qatar to join the Board of Peace Gaza Executive Board, but they’ve been essential partners along with Egypt in helping keep this ceasefire together,” he said. “Israel has its own craziness with their politics, and Palestinian aspirations are important. But we’re trying to put that to the side and constantly push forward.”

Thursday’s briefing was scheduled by the White House to offer additional details on the disarmament proposal accepted by Hamas.

A Board of Peace official separately told The Times of Israel that Hamas’s authorization triggered a 14-day period during which the sides will finalize the timeline for implementing each subsequent step of the disarmament framework.

The potential timelines on the table for the full disarmament process range from roughly 200 to 350 days, another Board of Peace official said during the briefing.

Once that timeline is locked in, the Board of Peace will begin holding Israel to its commitments from the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire, the second Board of Peace official said.

Israel was supposed to cease striking Gaza and meet a series of benchmarks pertaining to the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip that it has largely ignored.

The Board of Peace largely refrained from holding Israel to those commitments, as Hamas dragged its feet on agreeing to the US-led panel’s disarmament proposal.

Now that Hamas has consented to the roadmap, Israel will be expected to withdraw to the original Yellow Line that was established in the October 2025 ceasefire. That demarcation kept Israel in control of roughly 53 percent of Gaza, but Israel has since violated that clause by pushing to occupy as much as 70% of the Strip.

Israel won’t be required to withdraw beyond the original Yellow Line until Hamas begins to hand over its weapons, the first Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel, adding that the IDF will only be allowed to respond to what are deemed as imminent threats.

Hamas and all other armed Palestinian factions will also be required to cease all military activity after the initial 14-day period is complete and the timelines for the entire roadmap are set, the second Board of Peace official said.

An Implementation Verification Committee (IVC) will be established to independently confirm that both sides are adhering to their commitments from the October 2025 ceasefire.

The roadmap will not advance to a subsequent phase of decommissioning, withdrawal or reconstruction until the completion of the initial phase has been confirmed by the IVC.

Once it is verified that the sides are adhering to the terms of the October 2025 ceasefire, the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal envisions the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) — the panel of Palestinian technocrats tasked with replacing Hamas in governing the Strip — gradually entering the enclave, the Board of Peace official said.

The NCAG will seek to maintain a continuity of services for the people of Gaza, even as it hires new civil workers, or fires or reassigns those who have been working for Hamas.

While both Board of Peace officials noted the 14-day initial timeline, they — along with the senior US official — appeared to leave the door open to the possibility that the process could be dragged out, just as it has until this point.

“Don’t get stuck on the dates and the number of days because the timelines really depend on how each phase is implemented,” said the second Board of Peace official.

“I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on timing,” the US official added. “Hopefully both sides will cooperate… and if they don’t, we’ll deal with it accordingly, as we have in the last few months.”

Gradually entering the Strip along with the NCAG will be the International Stabilization Force (ISF) and a new Palestinian police force for Gaza, a Board of Peace official said during a briefing with reporters.

The US official said the Board of Peace has secured commitments for 5,000 troops from various countries. However, only a handful of representatives from Morocco, Kosovo, Albania and Kazakhstan have actually made it to Israel for eventual deployment.

The Board of Peace official said the four contributing countries will also be talking to other nations about joining the ISF.

The ISF will be tasked with supporting the training of the new Gaza police force, supporting the decommissioning of weapons, and positioning itself between Israeli forces and Palestinians, as the IDF gradually withdraws from the Strip, the official explained.

The #ISF welcomes the newest members of the Kosovo Security Force to the team. They will support the Gaza security effort in areas such as logistics and civil affairs.#StabilityStartsHere pic.twitter.com/Pv0xWif4Gz

— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) July 12, 2026

The US official said training for the police force has already begun, though the vast majority of the 5,000 vetted recruits have yet to leave Gaza amid Israeli foot-dragging.

The Board of Peace official indicated that some current Hamas policemen will be able to serve on the new Gaza force, while others will be assigned other jobs that are not related to security.

“We don’t want people to lose their livelihood. However, we want to be very clear that as the NCAG comes in… it actually has the freedom to operate and work effectively,” the official said.

The NCAG and the new police force will be responsible for dealing with all internal security incidents, maintaining public order and enforcing the law in the Strip, the Board of Peace official added.

The Board of Peace disarmament proposal approved by Hamas will see the terror group first hand over the weapons held by its police force to the NCAG, the official said.

That will be followed by the decommissioning of heavy weapons, arms depots and tunnels that exist in Gaza.

Personal weapons left in Gaza will be handed over last, in line with existing Palestinian Authority law, which allows for individuals to carry a gun under strict conditions if properly registered.

IDF-backed militias and armed clans in Gaza will also be required to hand over their weapons as part of this process, the Board of Peace official said.

While weapons will be handed over to the NCAG, the ISF will help facilitate the decommissioning, and its leadership has already been studying ways to ensure the handover can proceed safely.

The framework will be advanced gradually throughout the Strip and be linked strictly to the IDF’s withdrawals, both of which will be monitored by the International Verification Committee.

The process will be based on the principle of “one authority, one law and one weapon principle… so that we don’t end up in a situation where you have NCAG control during the day and militants coming out during the night to disrupt this process,” the Board of Peace official said.

A “Social Peace Agreement” will also be signed by all factions in Gaza in order to prevent a scenario where one group turns on another once weapons have been turned over, the official said.

Little information was provided during the briefing call regarding the reconstruction of Gaza, beyond that it will be supervised by the Board of Peace and the NCAG “in accordance with international standards,” the Board of Peace official said.

A different Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel that reconstruction will move ahead in areas that have been decommissioned, with the first pilot housing project set to begin on the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Rafah at the beginning of 2027.

The Board of Peace secured $16 billion in pledges from mainly Gulf countries, which it has refrained from collecting until Hamas accepted its disarmament proposal, the US official said.

Israeli-Cypriot real estate developer and Board of Peace Gaza Executive Board member Yakir Gabay has been negotiating with unnamed contractors and has succeeded in bringing costs down for reconstruction projects, the US official added.

The senior US official said Iran had tried to convince Hamas not to accept the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal, but ultimately failed in that effort.

“Iran would have liked Hamas not to do the deal but… Iran abandoned Hamas a while ago. They can’t afford to to keep them going, and I think the Hamas guys realize that they have to do what’s best for for themselves and and for the people,” the US official said, adding that the disarmament proposal’s offer of amnesty to Hamas members who agree to give up their weapons and adhere to Trump’s 20-point plan was a key selling point for the terror group.

“Iran did try to convince them not to do this deal, but ultimately we were able to overcome that,” the US official added, confirming a report from the Axios news site, which said that officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had urged a Hamas delegation attending the funeral of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei not to rush into accepting the Board of Peace proposal.

Asked about the role of the Palestinian Authority in the postwar management of Gaza, the senior US official said the PA should focus on carrying out reforms in the West Bank so that it can one day maybe be ready to govern the Strip.

The US official acknowledged the liaison office that was set up to coordinate between the Board of Peace and the PA.

“But at the end of the day, they have to focus on reforms. They have to show that they can run the West Bank and then obviously we can consider them coming into Gaza,” he said.

“The PA has not been effective in the West Bank, and Hamas has been much worse in Gaza, so we’re going to try something new,” the senior US official added, making no mention of the long list of punitive actions taken by Netanyahu’s government that have brought the PA to the brink of collapse and have significantly hobbled its ability to carry out reforms even if it wanted to.

Pouring further salt in the wound, the US official confirmed that one of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s top rivals, ousted Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, has been among the people that Washington has consulted about the postwar management of the Strip.

An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel earlier Thursday that Trump’s top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been in constant contact with Dahlan over the past year regarding Gaza.

“Mohammed Dahlan is one of the people we speak to. He gives us a lot of good knowledge about Gaza and the situation,” the US official said.

Adopting a softer tone toward the PA, the senior Board of Peace official on the call stressed that there is full transparency with the PA.

The latter official also noted that the NCAG is only meant to be a transitional authority in Gaza and that if the disarmament proposal is upheld, it will “reignite the prospect for a political horizon for the Palestinian people, which comes when the PA is reformed and is able to take over.”

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