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The Palestinian group Hamas said Saturday it remains ready to proceed with a U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan and urged Washington to press Israel, which insists it has not agreed to the latest stage of the deal.
Hamas informed U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace that it stood by the latest stage of the plan, under which the group would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee in the territory.
"Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement," a Hamas official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
"Hamas is urging the US administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase," the official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a difficult reelection contest in October and opposition from his right-wing base to the Gaza deal, said Tuesday that Israel had not agreed to the "draft" presented by the Board of Peace.
Trump last week hailed as a breakthrough Hamas's agreement to disarmament under the plan, with the Board of Peace saying Israel would in tandem carry out a phased withdrawal from much of Gaza.
Netanyahu met Monday with the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, who subsequently said Israel would withdraw only after Hamas completes full disarmament.
Israel's military has also said it will continue targeting Hamas, which carried out an attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli operations in Gaza, while ongoing, appear to have decreased in intensity in recent days. On Saturday, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported three people injured by Israeli army gunfire.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local sources, reported that Israeli forces opened fire on a gathering of Palestinians north of Khan Younis, injuring three people.
Israeli forces also carried out "extensive demolition operations south of Khan Younis" since Saturday morning, the sources told Wafa. Israeli military vehicles continued firing east of Salah al-Din Street near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in central Gaza. These incidents occurred in violation of the ceasefire agreement that took effect in October 2025.
Israeli operations in Gaza have killed 1,257 Palestinians since October 2025, when the two sides agreed to a ceasefire backed by Trump, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The Israeli army currently occupies about 70% of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian figures put the overall death toll of the war since October 2023 at more than 73,000 Palestinians, with over 174,000 injured.
Israeli ministers have called for a resumption of military operations in Gaza and rejection of a roadmap for implementing the second phase of Trump's ceasefire plan, Israeli media reported Friday.
The calls came during a meeting of Israel's Security Cabinet, chaired by Netanyahu, on Thursday evening to discuss the roadmap, according to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom.
Last Friday, the Trump-chaired Board of Peace announced that Hamas had approved the roadmap, while Israel was still considering its position. Ministers Ze'ev Elkin, Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Strock and Avi Dichter called during the Cabinet meeting for a resumption of military offensive operations in Gaza.
"If Israel does not launch offensive operations for two weeks, it would mean that it has accepted the plan," Elkin said, calling for formal rejection of the roadmap's provisions.
Smotrich, Strock and Dichter demanded that Netanyahu issue an official statement confirming Israel's opposition to implementing the plan's second phase.
"You are good at maneuvering, but after the issuance of an official document, we must delegitimize it. We cannot continue maneuvering," Smotrich told Netanyahu.
"Hamas must not remain. It must be erased," he added.
Last Friday, the Board of Peace released a draft agreement outlining principles and implementation mechanisms for the next phase of the plan, including security, administrative and transitional arrangements for Gaza as well as a proposed political track.
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