Gaza's Hamas Weighs Landmark Peace Proposal From Trump

Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, is considering a proposal from President Trump's Middle East peace team that would require it to disarm in exchange for potential economic benefits, according to Hamas officials.

The proposal, which is part of the broader peace plan being developed by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and other advisers, represents a significant shift in the group's posture and could dramatically reshape the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict if accepted.

Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and has long been devoted to armed struggle against the Jewish state. But the group's officials say they are open to considering the American proposal, which was presented to them recently by Egyptian mediators.

"We were surprised by the plan," said Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official in Gaza. "It includes a lot of things that need further discussion and study." He added that the group would need guarantees that Israel and the United States would fulfill their commitments before Hamas would agree to it.

The plan would require Hamas to give up its formidable arsenal of rockets and mortars, as well as its network of attack tunnels, in exchange for the possibility of an economic relief package for Gaza, which has been devastated by years of conflict and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

It would also call for Hamas to cede political control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognized government led by President Mahmoud Abbas, which was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

The proposal is part of the broader Middle East peace plan that Kushner and others have been working on for the past two years. Details of the plan have been closely guarded, but officials say it departs from previous peace efforts by focusing first on economic issues rather than the most contentious political ones.

Hamas officials cautioned that they have not yet accepted the American proposal and are studying it carefully. They said they would need to see concrete economic benefits and a clear timeline for implementation before they would agree to it.

"We want to see if this is something serious or just a way to pressure us," said Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official. "We don't want to be the ones who ruin the opportunity for the Palestinian people, but we also can't give up our principles."

The emergence of the American proposal comes at a critical moment for both Hamas and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.