Hamas demands end to Israeli ‘aggression’ before Gaza talks, Trump’s Board of Peace plans reconstruction

Hamas demands end to Israeli aggression first

Hamas has insisted that any talks on Gaza must begin with a complete halt to Israeli “aggression,” even as Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” outlines plans for the territory’s future. Israel, meanwhile, maintains that the militants must disarm before reconstruction can commence.

Trump’s board convened for its first session in Washington on Thursday, with several countries pledging funds and personnel for rebuilding, more than four months after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect.

The meeting did not provide a timeline for Hamas to surrender its weapons or for Israeli forces to withdraw from the devastated enclave.

“Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression,” Hamas said in a statement late Thursday.

The group added that plans for Gaza must include “lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people's legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that Hamas must disarm before reconstruction begins. He did not attend the Washington meeting, which was represented instead by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Both Hamas and Israel have frequently accused each other of violating the ceasefire, which started last October after a Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 killed 1,221 people, according to AFP figures based on official Israeli data.

Since the conflict, Gaza’s health ministry reports at least 72,069 deaths in Israeli military operations, figures the United Nations considers reliable. Israel continues to maintain a military presence in over half of Gaza and controls all entry points into Israel and Egypt.

Further violence was reported on Friday, with Israel's military saying it had "eliminated" an armed fighter in southern Gaza who crossed the so-called Yellow Line separating areas controlled by Israel and Hamas.

Gaza's civil defence agency also said a child was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern town of Jabalia.

Trump said several countries, mostly in the Gulf, had pledged more than seven billion dollars to rebuild the territory at Thursday's board meeting.

Muslim-majority Indonesia will take a deputy commander role in a nascent International Stabilisation Force, the unit's American chief Major General Jasper Jeffers said.

Trump, whose plan for Gaza was endorsed by the UN Security Council in November, also said five countries had committed to providing troops, including Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania.

Palestinians who spoke to AFP in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis swayed between hope and suspicion.

"Trump is merely a military force imposing his views on the world, and this security council, which he boasts about, is another gateway to the occupation of Palestine, another face of the Zionist occupation," said Farid Abu Odeh, referring to the board.

Another Palestinian, Mohammed al-Saqqa, said he was praying Trump's board would lead to "security and peace, and to something better than what we have gone through".

But many experts and some US allies have indicated scepticism at the board's approach over concerns it may sideline the UN.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP he found what was emerging from the board "seriously disturbing".

Lovatt said many of its ideas for Gaza's reconstruction originated from Israeli-friendly partners, while Palestinian voices were excluded.

He said signs pointed to "a colonial project in terms of trying to impose a foreign economic project on a territory".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the European Commission should not have sent a representative to the meeting as it did not have a mandate to represent member states.

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said the lack of Palestinian input and the grand reconstruction plans contingent on Hamas's disarmament made it "hard to take the Board of Peace seriously".

(With AFP inputs)