Hamas accepted the plan. Israel did not. That is the entire scene in one sentence - an American plan both sides were meant to sign, ultimately refused by the very party that spent weeks presenting itself as the one simply waiting for peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had not accepted the latest plan for the Gaza Strip, despite receiving a guarantee that the Israeli army would not withdraw before Hamas is fully disarmed. The plan, presented by the administration of US President Donald Trump, concerns the second phase of the peace process: disarming Hamas and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The dispute is not about what should happen, but in what order. Hamas agrees to disarm on condition that it runs in parallel with the Israeli withdrawal. Israel wants the reverse - weapons first, everything else after. The whole diplomatic construction hangs on a single question of sequence, and where there is no trust, sequence is everything.

"Trump's team sent us a draft we did not accept. It is not our draft. We passed on our objections," Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media. He called Trump one of the greatest friends Israel has ever had in the White House - and immediately made clear that friendship buys no concessions. "Israel's survival is not up for negotiation."

Who does not trust whom

After the Israeli objections, the Board of Peace established by Trump guaranteed Netanyahu that the army would not withdraw before Hamas fully hands over its weapons. The Israeli army's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, said the military would continue operating in Gaza: "We will not allow a threat like the one we experienced on 7 October to form on our borders."

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem, for his part, said an agreement had been reached with other Palestinian factions on how to implement the ceasefire, and called on the American administration and the Board of Peace representative, Nickolay Mladenov, to put pressure on Israel. The board proposed gradual disarmament and mutual withdrawal - but as things stand, neither side believes the other will meet its obligations.

The calendar nobody mentions out loud

There is one more date hanging over all of this. Israel holds parliamentary elections in October. Netanyahu is running again, and his government remains under fire over the security failures preceding the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023. A session of the Israeli security cabinet scheduled for Tuesday has, according to Israeli media, been pushed to Thursday.

Trump's peace plan has been hitting the same obstacles for months: disarming Hamas, forming a new Palestinian administration, deploying international forces and the Israeli withdrawal - none of it has been carried out. Does anyone really believe a signature comes before the ballot boxes, or is everyone waiting to see who will be counting the second phase?