Talks to advance Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran, sparking a broader Middle East war, three sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said.

The pause threatens to stall implementation of Trump's flagship Middle East peace initiative, which he has cast as a major foreign policy objective. It comes less than a month after he secured billions of dollars in pledges for Gaza from Gulf Arab states.

Trump's Gaza plan has hinged in part on whether Hamas militants would lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty, a step intended to pave the way for reconstruction and further Israeli military withdrawals. White House mediators have been backchanneling between Israel and Hamas on the disarmament question.

Negotiations on this and other issues were paused when the Iran war began on February 28, the three sources said.

Zaha Hassan of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said countries including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which pledged funds for Trump's Board of Peace mission, may now question whether the effort is “really money well spent now that they are dodging rocket fire.”

One source with direct knowledge of the Board of Peace mission described the pause as a brief delay caused by flight disruptions preventing mediators and representatives from travelling around the region. Talks have frequently been held in Cairo.

Another source, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort, said Hamas had been expected to hold talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators on the day the war erupted, but the meeting was scrapped and no new date has been set.

A Hamas official confirmed that talks on Trump's Gaza plan had been frozen for now but declined to elaborate. Israel's government and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel's military has eased off strikes in Gaza since the start of the war but has not ceased attacks, citing Hamas threats. At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since February 28, health officials say.

Trump's plan for Gaza began with an October ceasefire that left Israel controlling more than half the territory, with Hamas controlling the rest. The initiative gained momentum in the month before the war, including the reopening of Gaza's border crossing with Egypt and new pledges for reconstruction.

Much of Washington's multinational coordination on Gaza policy has been run out of a U.S.-led military compound in southern Israel. Diplomats said momentum behind the plan stalled as the Iran war escalated.

Three diplomats said the Civil Military Coordination Centre scaled back to minimal operations when the war started amid concerns it could be targeted by Iranian missiles.

Senior U.S. officials now appear focused on the Iran war, leaving Gaza with limited top-level attention, diplomats said. Working-level discussions among countries have continued in the hope that the plan could move forward once the war ends.