Gaza Strikes Continue as Disarmament Deal Stalls on Sequencing

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 Palestinians in Gaza over the weekend even as Washington promoted a new framework intended to disarm Hamas and produce a phased Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

Reuters reported that the attacks hit Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, producing the enclave’s highest daily death toll in weeks. The strikes continued despite President Donald Trump’s announcement that a breakthrough had been reached in efforts to implement last year’s ceasefire agreement.

The violence exposed the central weakness in the proposed arrangement: Israel says Hamas must disarm before troops withdraw, while Hamas says Israeli attacks must stop and earlier withdrawal commitments must be honored before it gives up its weapons.

A Deal Built Around Opposite First Steps

Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace released a 15-point implementation roadmap calling for Hamas and other armed factions to disarm, for weapons to be secured and for governance to shift toward a technocratic Palestinian authority.

But the document has not resolved the sequencing dispute that has repeatedly blocked earlier agreements.

Israeli officials say nothing can happen before Hamas has fully and verifiably disarmed. Hamas says disarmament cannot occur while Israeli strikes continue and Israeli forces retain control over most of the enclave.

Each side therefore treats the other’s required first step as a demand to surrender leverage before receiving a guaranteed concession.

The Weekend Strikes Deepened Distrust

Palestinian health officials said strikes hit homes, apartments and tent encampments. Israel said some attacks targeted Hamas commanders and militants. As in earlier phases of the conflict, independent verification of individual target claims remained limited.

The renewed casualties reinforced Palestinian fears that the implementation process could become an open-ended demand for unilateral disarmament without a guaranteed end to Israeli military operations.

The Associated Press separately reported that the Board of Peace’s high representative, Nikolay Mladenov, urged Israel to halt strikes while discussing implementation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That appeal underscored the gap between the political framework and conditions on the ground.

Israel Keeps a Full-Takeover Option Open

Israeli officials have said full control of Gaza may be necessary if Hamas refuses to disarm. Israel already controls most of the territory, giving its forces significant leverage over movement, reconstruction and the timing of any withdrawal.

That position raises the stakes of the negotiations. If Hamas does not disarm, Israel is signaling that military control could expand. If Israel does not halt attacks or begin withdrawing, Hamas has little incentive to surrender its remaining weapons.

The result is a ceasefire process in which both sides believe moving first would leave them strategically exposed.

U.S. Diplomacy Faces an Enforcement Test

The United States now has to convert broad commitments into enforceable steps: who verifies disarmament, when attacks stop, how withdrawal is measured, what happens to tunnels and heavy weapons, and which authority governs Gaza during the transition.

Without answers, the agreement may remain a political declaration rather than an operational peace plan.

The weekend’s strikes show that the gap between announcement and implementation remains wide. The roadmap has created a possible route out of the war, but it has not yet changed the incentives driving the fighting.