A senior official for Gaza on President Trump’s “Board of Peace” met with a top Hamas leader the week before last and pressed the militant group on the issue of disarmament, according to two officials briefed on the encounter, amid concern that Israel may return to war.

The direct talks between Nickolay Mladenov, a former United Nations envoy serving as the board’s “high representative” for Gaza, and Khalil al-Hayya, the chief Hamas negotiator, underscored that the group remains a key actor in Gaza’s postwar transition.

The board, a new international body with a mandate to secure peace in conflict zones, is set to have its inaugural meeting in Washington on February 19th.

Officials from the board are finalizing a demilitarization plan that they hope will be acceptable to both Israel and Hamas, allowing the group to keep some small arms, at least initially.

Yet Mr. al-Hayya refused to discuss demilitarization with Mr. Mladenov, the officials said, during their meeting in Cairo. It was unclear why he did not engage on the subject. In an interview with Al Jazeera that aired on Dec. 10, Khaled Meshal, a Qatar-based Hamas leader, said that to take away weapons from Palestinians was to take away their soul.

Mr. Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which paved the way for the October cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, calls on the group to give up its weapons, but members of its  leadership have not publicly agreed to that demand.

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Presses Hamas on Disarmament, Officials Say