May 26, 2026 · 43 min · 11 segments
As the world's attention shifts to the Iran war, Gaza is increasingly disappearing from the international spotlight. But more than six months after the United Nations endorsed a peace plan for Gaza…
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Gonul TolHost
One of the biggest problems in the debate over, uh, over Gaza's future is, is that nobody, uh, seems to agree on what disarmament of Hamas actually means.
Uh, so my question is, d- and does it mean fully dismantling Hamas's military wing, d- d- surrendering only heavy weapons, or storing weapons under, uh, international supervision? It, uh, I, I think even within, uh, ongoing negotiations, I mean, there appears to be no clear consensus on that.
Hamas officials have indicated they may be willing to discuss freezing, uh, or storing weapons, but not necessarily fully surrendering them.
So when regional and Western officials talk about Hamas disarmament, what do they actually mean?
We have to remember that our points of reference are the Trump plan, um, and the UN Security Council resolution a- that, uh, endorsed the Trump plan.
And if you look at those two documents, you realize that, um, you know, it says very little about the details around this.
Um, and that's because contrary to what President Trump said and contrary to what the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 said, the parties never agreed on phase two of, you know, the Trump plan.
What they agreed to was phase one, and they agreed to discuss a phase two, which is when we would get to, um, what we say as disarmament.
Um, and of course, as you noted in your introduction, we don't have compliance in phase one, and that's what's hanging up all of the, um, negotiations.
Hamas is insisting that Israel comply with phase one, which means no more strikes against, uh, civilians and others.
That it means, um, o- opening up Rafah for people to go in and out, particularly those who need medical treatment.
It means for essential supplies for shelters, for prosthetic limbs, which are being characterized as dual use.
[laughs] Allowing those things to come in, um, as well as sufficient food and the quality of food, um, which hasn't, hasn't been available.
Uh, and we're, you know, with the, uh, Iran war, we're facing increased food prices, so even what's coming in has been, has been reduced by INGOs who can't afford to bring in the food.
We're, you know, we're in this world where phase one isn't, isn't being complied with.
And, and in fact, Israel has moved the yellow line that it had withdrew to, um, and now controls two-thirds of Gaza.
So, so Hamas' argument is, um, let's get compliance in phase one, and let's talk about the political horizon because they insist that there be, um, a political horizon to all this.
Otherwise, they're just turning over weapons and, you know, and they're leaving themselves exposed to, um, to what they see as, um, continuation of the genocide, um, uh, throughout the, um, the, the strip.
So, so that's where, that's where the difficulties are, are, are coming, is the fact that we don't have phase one.
One of the biggest problems in the debate over, uh, over Gaza's future is, is that nobody, uh, seems to agree on what disarmament of Hamas actually means.
Uh, so my question is, d- and does it mean fully dismantling Hamas's military wing, d- d- surrendering only heavy weapons, or storing weapons under, uh, international supervision? It, uh, I, I think even within, uh, ongoing negotiations, I mean, there appears to be no clear consensus on that.
Hamas officials have indicated they may be willing to discuss freezing, uh, or storing weapons, but not necessarily fully surrendering them.
So when regional and Western officials talk about Hamas disarmament, what do they actually mean?
We have to remember that our points of reference are the Trump plan, um, and the UN Security Council resolution a- that, uh, endorsed the Trump plan.
And if you look at those two documents, you realize that, um, you know, it says very little about the details around this.
Um, and that's because contrary to what President Trump said and contrary to what the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 said, the parties never agreed on phase two of, you know, the Trump plan.
What they agreed to was phase one, and they agreed to discuss a phase two, which is when we would get to, um, what we say as disarmament.
Um, and of course, as you noted in your introduction, we don't have compliance in phase one, and that's what's hanging up all of the, um, negotiations.
Hamas is insisting that Israel comply with phase one, which means no more strikes against, uh, civilians and others.
That it means, um, o- opening up Rafah for people to go in and out, particularly those who need medical treatment.
It means for essential supplies for shelters, for prosthetic limbs, which are being characterized as dual use.
[laughs] Allowing those things to come in, um, as well as sufficient food and the quality of food, um, which hasn't, hasn't been available.
Uh, and we're, you know, with the, uh, Iran war, we're facing increased food prices, so even what's coming in has been, has been reduced by INGOs who can't afford to bring in the food.
We're, you know, we're in this world where phase one isn't, isn't being complied with.
And, and in fact, Israel has moved the yellow line that it had withdrew to, um, and now controls two-thirds of Gaza.
So, so Hamas' argument is, um, let's get compliance in phase one, and let's talk about the political horizon because they insist that there be, um, a political horizon to all this.
Otherwise, they're just turning over weapons and, you know, and they're leaving themselves exposed to, um, to what they see as, um, continuation of the genocide, um, uh, throughout the, um, the, the strip.
So, so that's where, that's where the difficulties are, are, are coming, is the fact that we don't have phase one.
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