Tag: LINK|i3-WP-WSJ-0003017972

SHARM EL-SHEIKH—When Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya first saw President Trump’s plan for peace in Gaza, which demanded his group disarm with few concrete steps to make sure Israel would end the war, his immediate reaction was no.

The plan, heavily amended by Israel and presented to Hamas by the Qatari prime minister and Egypt’s spy chief, looked nothing like what Hayya had been led to expect, officials familiar with the discussions said. Hayya, who less than a month earlier had been a target of Israel’s audacious attack on Hamas in Qatar, told his visitors the group would keep its Israeli hostages until it had enforceable guarantees the war would end.