CNN: U.S. Held Direct Talks with Hamas in Cairo as Ceasefire Plan Hits a Wall

For the first time since the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect, direct talks were held this week between the United States and Hamas — CNN reported last night (Wednesday). According to the report, the meeting took place two days earlier in Cairo, as part of international efforts to advance implementation of the U.S.-brokered agreement.

According to two officials in the terror organization, the talks included a U.S. delegation led by senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, alongside Hamas’s head of the negotiating team, Khalil al-Hayya. Joining Lightstone was Nikolay Mladenov, the representative of the "Peace Council" for Gaza. The meeting took place just a few days after Lightstone met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. State Department did not confirm the meeting.

According to the report, the talks focused on the terms for implementing the first phase of the understandings. Al-Hayya demanded that Israel uphold its commitments, including halting strikes and expanding humanitarian aid to the Strip. According to a U.S. official and a diplomat familiar with the details, Israel agreed to implement those demands — but set a key condition: a commitment by Hamas to disarm.

The contacts also aimed to settle additional core issues, including the deployment of an international force in Gaza and the withdrawal of IDF forces from areas in the Strip. According to the report, the disarmament demand became a central point of contention and led to a deadlock in the talks after Hamas refused to accept it.

A senior figure in the organization described the U.S.-Israeli proposal as problematic and argued that it "reduces the entire process to the disarmament clause, while other commitments are pushed to the margins." It was further claimed that Mladenov conveyed Israel’s demands during the contacts and even included "implied threats" that Israel might return to fighting if Hamas did not agree to disarm.