Board of Peace Dropped Clauses Barring Hamas From Holding Weapons

Negotiators for the Board of Peace dropped clauses that explicitly barred Hamas from possessing any weapons from later drafts of the Gaza agreement, officials familiar with the negotiations said. The change followed months of revisions during rounds of contacts with Hamas leaders. The finished agreement commits the group only to decommission and store its heavy weapons under a new U.S.-backed body of Palestinian technocrats, and leaves unsettled both the timeline for handing over the arms and the terms of an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu rejected the 15-point framework on Sunday, and his spokesman said Monday that Hamas must be stripped of its entire arsenal before Israel considers withdrawing troops.