• Palestinians say Trump’s plan jars with reality on ground; nearly all residents remain displaced
• Israel insists on Hamas disarmament before troop withdrawal; Hamas demands halt to attacks before implementing deal

JERUSALEM: Palestinians in Gaza said on Monday Donald Trump’s touting of a deal aimed at disarming Hamas and ending the war was out of touch with their worsening reality, after Israel killed 18 people in one of the deadliest days since a ceasefire last year.

While Trump has presented the agreement as a breakthrough, Israel has raised concerns about the plan and continued military operations, highlighting a clear disconnect between the US president and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump said on Thursday that the agreement represented a “major milestone” in implementing the Gaza peace plan reached last October.

Under the proposal, Hamas would surrender its weapons and Israel would withdraw its forces in stages. Trump said Israel was “very happy” with the development, although Netanyahu has not publicly endorsed the arrangement.

Instead, Israeli officials have signalled that major obstacles remain. Defence minister Israel Katz said that Israeli troops would not withdraw until Hamas had been disarmed and its tunnel network destroyed.

Hamas, meanwhile, has insisted that Israel must halt attacks before it begins carrying out its commitments under the agreement.

“Israel has conveyed its comments and concerns on the proposed framework to our American counterparts,” said Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Netanyahu’s office. “The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions.”

Israeli officials said intelligence assessments indicated that Hamas had been rebuilding its forces and recruiting fighters since the October ceasefire, arguing that anything less than complete demilitarisation would leave the group capable of threatening Israel again.

A political source said Israel would not abandon its current position in Gaza and would continue operations against what it considers threats to Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Meanwhile, Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy for Trump’s Board of Peace, was expected to meet Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, on Monday in an effort to push for an end to renewed attacks.

For many Palestinians in Gaza, however, the diplomatic language of progress bears little resemblance to their daily experience.

Gazans say Trump’s touting of plan jars with grim reality. Much of the enclave remains in ruins from the Israeli offensive and Palestinians say recent Israeli strikes have shattered any hope of progress.

“It was as if the war has resumed, there was an attack every one hour or less, and the planes struck places across the Gaza Strip, north, central and south, everywhere,” Aya Mohammad Zaki, 32, said by phone.

The Palestinians killed on Sunday included a couple and their child in an Israeli strike on a Gaza City apartment.

Israeli troops have occupied and depopulated two-thirds of the enclave, leaving nearly all of its more than 2 million residents confined to a tiny coastal strip in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.

Last year’s ceasefire allowed Israeli forces to retain control of 53pc of Gaza initially, but Israeli defence minister confirmed that the Israeli-held area has reached 60pc to 70pc as troops search for tunnels.

Soumah Dawla, 60, said the Israeli-held zone recently expanded toward her home after yellow bricks laid by forces to demarcate territory were moved closer. “We are waiting for displacement at any moment. Our entire life is gone, our entire future is gone, our children’s future is gone,” Dawla said.

She said she hoped Trump’s announcement would bring change, but “on the contrary, destruction increased, displacement increased.”

Israel’s recent expansion of the yellow line forced people to flee in at least five different areas across the Gaza Strip. Hamas has demanded Israel pull forces out of areas seized since last October’s ceasefire as a condition for moving ahead with the deal.

A roadmap released by the Board of Peace and dated Thursday called for Israel to complete commitments to cease military operations in Gaza “without delay”. While calling for verification of compliance, the roadmap also lays out a “phased withdrawal” from Gaza by Israel.

At least 1,230 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli strikes since the Trump-backed Gaza peace plan was agreed to in October, according to Gaza health authorities.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2026