Fatah skips Cairo talks as Hamas delays Gaza disarmament

Fatah deliberately missed bilateral meetings during a two-day conference in Cairo, signaling growing frustration with Hamas's inaction on disarming and the increasing prominence of the Democratic Reform Bloc. Arabic media reports suggest Fatah's absence stemmed from Hamas's refusal to cede control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

The high-level meeting included mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, along with representatives from eight Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Democratic Reform Bloc. Fatah spokesman Abdel Fattah Dawla voiced his faction's impatience, telling Independent Arabia that Hamas is "obligated to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement that it signed unilaterally, which includes disarming." He also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of seeking pretexts to avoid fulfilling the rest of the agreement and continuing to harm the Palestinian people.

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Hamas is “obligated to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement that it signed unilaterally, which includes disarming,” and stressed “the need not to give [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any pretext to evade implementing the rest of the agreement and to continue killing the Palestinian people.”

Dawla urged Hamas to "take practical steps to enable the Palestinian Authority and the PLO to exercise their duties as the legitimate political and legal authorities over the Gaza Strip." He complained that the group had "not taken any steps in that direction; it is negotiating over weapons and making concessions to others." However, Dawla also placed some blame on Netanyahu's "behavior" and "insistence on remaining in the Gaza Strip" for the lack of progress on the second phase of the US-brokered deal.

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take practical steps to enable the Palestinian Authority and the PLO to exercise their duties as the legitimate political and legal authorities over the Gaza Strip

Many observers believe Fatah's absences were also linked to the participation of the Democratic Reform Bloc, led by Mohammed Dahlan. Dahlan, a former senior Fatah figure now living in exile, reportedly met recently with Shin Bet chief David Zini in the UAE. Dahlan fell out with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2011 and was convicted of multiple offenses, including involvement in a poisoning plot, an attempted coup, and embezzlement, accusations he has denied.

Hamas and its allied groups reportedly demand that disarmament be carried out in stages and that weapons only be handed over to Palestinian parties. This stance contrasts with Fatah's call for Hamas to disarm and facilitate the Palestinian Authority's governance in Gaza.

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the behavior of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his insistence on remaining in the Gaza Strip