Mike Baker

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Tell them the PDB sent you.

Welcome back to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

The war in Gaza is at a familiar crossroads.

Negotiators say Hamas is effectively rejecting President Trump's peace plan by refusing to disarm.

The result could be a dramatically different post-war Gaza, with reconstruction proceeding only in areas under Israeli Defense Forces security control.

Now, if you followed our coverage over the enclave, this probably sounds familiar.

A new proposal emerges, diplomats head into negotiations, and sooner or later, the conversation runs into the same question.

What happens to Hamas's weapons?

According to a source familiar with the talks who spoke to the Times of Israel, that's exactly where negotiations in Cairo between Hamas and the mediating countries of Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey stand once again.

The source accused Hamas of trying to present its latest response through media reports as more cooperative than it actually is.

But behind closed doors, the assessment appears far less optimistic.

While the source stopped short of calling Hamas's position a formal rejection, noting that the final proposal has not yet been made public, they added that, quote, in practice, it looks much closer to a no.

Now, at the heart of the U.S.

administration's plan is the requirement that Hamas do something it's repeatedly resisted over the years, surrender its weapons and give up control of Gaza.

In fact, the source argues Hamas is still trying to avoid what negotiators view as the proposal's core requirement of, quote, clear disarmament.

Under the White House's 20-point proposal, which was backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, Hamas would no longer govern Gaza and would no longer operate as an armed force.

Political authority would transfer to a new Palestinian technocratic administration, while security responsibilities would gradually move from the IDF

to internal and multinational forces operating under an international board of peace.

That sounds very grand.