Hamas Disarmament Is the Only Sticking Point

By Seth Mandel

Monday, August 17, 2026

 

The collective future of the Palestinians is entirely dependent on disarming Hamas. This has been the case for over two decades now, and it will continue to be the case two decades from now if nothing changes. Jared Kushner appears to understand this.

 

The president’s son-in-law, an important figure in the signing of the region-shifting Abraham Accords, has met with Hamas leaders over the disarmament question. He is now in Israel, meeting with leaders over the Hamas disarmament question. Kushner has also been in contact with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; the two discussed the Hamas disarmament question.

 

It is the only question, at the moment, that matters.

 

“Hamas leaders reaffirmed their commitment to disarm and demilitarize Gaza in a meeting with President Trump’s adviser Jared Kushner in Egypt on Sunday, according to a source with direct knowledge,” reports Axios.

 

Of course, if Hamas were truly committed to disarming, this meeting could have been a quick WhatsApp text. Kushner doesn’t need the jetlag just for empty words. And there is evidence Kushner’s impervious-to-carbonation demeanor is starting to give way to annoyance.

 

“Kushner used the rare direct meeting to press Hamas for tangible steps on disarmament, warning that Israel doesn’t trust the group to follow through,” according to Axios.

 

In this case, however, je suis Israel—not in the solidarity sense but in the plain fact that no one trusts Hamas to follow through on disarmament. That is also key to this whole series of negotiations, because participants and observers of the conflict fall into one of only two categories: those who don’t trust Hamas but are OK with the terror group retaining its fascist grip on power, and those who also don’t trust Hamas and would like Hamas to be disarmed.

 

No one thinks Hamas is committed to peace. No one. Not even Steve Witkoff. But people are impatient. And—this part’s important—most observers don’t really care what happens to the Israelis and the Gazans. So they would rather Hamas make promises and Israel compromise its security than have a frozen conflict that keeps coming up at dinner parties.

 

Kushner, however, does care whether this plan fails or succeeds. And so there is really no way around the fact that Hamas needs to actually disarm for the region to move forward. As a source close to Kushner told Axios: “We thanked them for the commitment, but we want to see real efforts and not just words.”

 

More: “Kushner stressed to Hamas leaders that the bar is high because the Israeli side doesn’t trust them to actually disarm. Kushner told them there is no room for negotiations on the disarmament, but if they show real steps the U.S. will do its best to make sure Israel takes steps of its own.”

 

What would those Israeli steps consist of? Here, there is some room for speculation. Axios is probably right that the steps Israel would agree to would focus on humanitarian aid. That is the more realistic path. After all, the IDF cannot hand over territory to a non-Hamas body if there is no non-Hamas body to which territory can be handed.

 

The New York Times suggests otherwise: “For the deal with Hamas to go ahead, Israel would also most likely have to agree to a phased timeline for withdrawing its forces from the Gaza Strip in parallel with Hamas gradually handing over its weapons.”

 

Here there is some need to dive into the details. The Israelis have installed the so-called yellow line to divide IDF-held territory from the rest of Gaza. The line has been adjusted as necessary, giving the IDF oversight of more territory. Israel would likely be willing to negotiate phased withdrawals between the yellow line’s current placement and its original spot if Hamas truly makes real progress on disarmament. But the IDF cannot disengage from Gaza entirely until Hamas is out of power and all of its weapons are gone.

 

The source close to Kushner told Axios that that was the message he wanted Hamas to take from the meeting: “There can be no ambiguity: Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure. And Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel.”

 

All means all. Remember that the next time Israel’s government is accused of being the reason for the holdup or of “rejecting” the deal. Israel’s only opposition is to the modification of the agreed-upon terms for ending the conflict. Which is to say: Israel wants the conflict to actually end. It just needs everyone else to want the same.