Qatar confirms the start of negotiations on the second phase of Trump's Gaza plan

Trump's Gaza plan virtually completed its first phase on Monday, following the exchange of 20 live Israeli hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The only remaining requirement is for Hamas to hand over the remains of the 24 dead captives still in the Palestinian territory. This requirement is difficult to meet due to the likely dispersal of remains, massive displacement, and destruction.

Now, the plan that allowed for the ceasefire in the Strip, which came into effect on Friday, faces a new and likely more complicated challenge: negotiating its second phase, which includes clauses in which the parties' positions remain far apart.

Those negotiations have already begun, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told the conservative US network Fox News on Tuesday.

Al Ansari confirmed what was already assumed, namely that the discussion of several of these thorny issues, such as disarmament or the future administration of Gaza, has been postponed until now"to ensure that the first phase [especially the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners] is carried out."

“Difficult discussions have begun about what [Phase 2] will look like to secure Gaza, manage it, and ensure there is no other war,” he added.

In addition to the complete disarmament of Hamas, which Israel seeks, but partial disarmament of the militia, this second round of negotiations will address the creation of a"technocratic and apolitical" authority of Palestinians and international experts to manage the day-to-day running of the Strip, and in which Hamas will not be represented. The group opposes this technocratic authority being subject to the supervision of the so-called"Peace Board," an international organization that Trump himself would chair and in which former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a very unpopular figure for the Palestinians, would play a leading role.