US prepared to start Phase Two of Gaza ceasefire before Hamas disarms and returns final hostage

And, in December, al-Hayya’s main rival for the leadership, Khaled Mashaal, told Al Jazeera: “The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance.

"What is being proposed is a freeze, or storage (of weapons)… to provide guarantees against any military escalation from Gaza with the Israeli occupation.

"Disarmament for a Palestinian means stripping away his very soul.”

Now, US officials have reportedly told The Times of Israel that President Trump told Prime Minister Netanyahu at their Mar-a-Lago meeting last week that Washington “is committed to both bringing back the final deceased hostage from Gaza and disarming Hamas”.

However, Trump reportedly also emphasised that the US “is not prepared to condition the commencement of phase two of its peace plan on either”.

The same source told the paper that negotiations between the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have yielded a “gradual disarmament plan”, starting with the decommissioning of heavy weaponry, followed by a “buy-back” scheme for light arms.

Jerusalem, though, has insisted that Phase Two, which would implement the US-devised governance mechanisms for post-war Gaza and begin the reconstruction process, cannot begin until both conditions have been met.

Both the Times of Israel and Axios have reported that Trump hopes to unveil the governance framework next week.

This would include a Board of Peace made up of world leaders, chaired by the president himself, a subordinate “executive committee” of prominent figures (potentially including former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair), and a technocratic committee of Palestinian officials unaffiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority for day-to-day administration. 

Under the plan, security would be managed by an International Stabilisation Force, made up of soldiers contributed from various partner nations.

Pro-Israel Azerbaijan has already ruled out contributing to this force, while Israel has insisted that their must be no Turkish involvement. Hamas has rejected the idea as another form of “occupation”.

The reports come as Hamas and the Red Cross announced that they had restarted the search for Ran’s body after almost a month.

A master sergeant in the police's Yam counter-terror unit, the 24-year-old was killed fighting terrorists who had invaded Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023.

He was due to undergo surgery for a broken shoulder that morning, but chose to join his police comrades on the front lines when he heard of the terrorist incursion.

On Monday, his parents met Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi, David Yosef, to call for his release.

"I have the honour of greeting the parents of Ran Gvili, the last hostage who, sadly, is still being held in captivity," said Yosef.

"I explained to the parents that according to Jewish law, even if it is certain that he has fallen, there is a great Torah commandment to do everything possible to bring him to a Jewish burial.

"We are all praying, and I call upon each and every one of the people of Israel that, with God’s help, very soon - very soon - he will return to us, and that his parents will know fulfilment from all their descendants. Amen, may it be God’s will."