Palestinian officials are becoming less optimistic about reaching an understanding that would advance the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which Israel has since violated, killing over 1,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Sources from Hamas and Palestinian factions attributed the "return to square one" to the amendments made by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's lead envoy for Gaza. A leading Hamas source outside Gaza stated that Mladenov's amendments, as presented to the movement and factions, are rejected. Another Hamas official described them as "dangerous and ensuring only the implementation of Israel's conditions, linking everything to weapons, in exchange for only humanitarian services without any national rights." Disagreement overshadowed the indirect talks between Israel on one side, and Hamas and the factions on the other, regarding moving to new phases of the ceasefire agreement. While the Palestinian side insists on implementing the requirements of the first phase, which include the withdrawal of the Israeli army from occupied territories and the entry of aid and goods into the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv is pushing for the disarmament of the factions as the main clause of the second phase. According to the two sources, and a third from the Palestinian factions participating in the negotiations held in Cairo, the mediators did not approve of the amendments presented by Mladenov either, saying they were "biased towards Israel and causing a new crisis, especially after an important formulation regarding weapons had been agreed upon." The two leading Hamas sources abroad confirmed that the movement's delegation, which will head to Cairo in the coming days, will carry "clear amendments to Mladenov's paper," while demanding and insisting that it "meet the aspirations of Palestinians and be consistent with US President Donald Trump's plan, which was agreed upon in September of last year." Despite the fragile ceasefire reached in October that paused the heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas, Israel continues to carry out near-daily strikes and shelling across the coastal Gaza. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has killed more than 1,030 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
