Hamas said Friday it had accepted a deal announced by US President Donald Trump to end the war with Israel, including the handover of its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee and the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel has yet to officially respond to the announcement, but an Israeli political source told AFP that there would be “no withdrawal whatsoever” from the army’s current positions unless Hamas carries out “genuine disarmament”.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rejected the agreement, describing it as “unacceptable” and warning that it was “tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organising for the next massacre”.
The disarmament of Hamas has been one of the most contentious issues in negotiations over a ceasefire that began in October. Trump announced on Thursday that the group had agreed to “complete disarmament”, describing the move as a key step towards establishing a new Palestinian administration in Gaza.
The Israeli source said the issue of Gaza’s future governance was not discussed during Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington this week.
Hamas officials told AFP that a committee created under Trump’s Board of Peace to administer Gaza would oversee the process of storing the group’s weapons.
The group said it expected international mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel also adhered to the agreement, including its commitment to withdraw from Gaza.
Israel has consistently maintained that Hamas must be fully disarmed before any military withdrawal. Before the announcement, the Israeli political source said the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarisation of the territory remained conditions for any future arrangement.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the group had made “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement”.
“Israel will not intervene in the issue of disarmament. The National Committee is the body that will undertake this task,” he said, referring to the National Committee for Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
Despite the October ceasefire, violence has continued in Gaza. Health officials said Israeli strikes on Thursday killed at least four people, including two children.
Focus shifts to implementation
The Board of Peace confirmed on X that Hamas had “agreed to a detailed Roadmap for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire”.
“Our focus now turns to implementation,” the organisation said, adding that the NCAG would “soon begin a phased transition toward full authority”.
Trump said in an earlier social media post that once Hamas was disarmed, “Israeli forces will withdraw” and an International Stabilisation Force would work alongside a new Palestinian police force to ensure Gaza was secure for residents and neighbouring countries.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, said the agreement followed months of difficult negotiations.
“What happens next matters even more. Implementation and verification have to be real,” Mladenov wrote on X, adding that “withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning”.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed the agreement but warned that its success depended on the commitment of all parties.
“A lot needs to fall in place for this to work,” Kallas said, adding that verifying Hamas’s compliance would be a major challenge and that Israel would eventually need to withdraw from Gaza.
Mediators prepare for next phase
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported Friday that Cairo would soon host a meeting of ceasefire mediators, including the United States, Qatar and Turkey, to discuss the second phase of the plan.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the roadmap provided “a balanced and pragmatic path forward”, involving the decommissioning of all weapons and a phased transfer of responsibilities to new authorities.
The source, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said there would be “no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people”.
The roadmap would establish a process for eliminating tunnels, weapons storage sites and production facilities, while a verification mechanism would monitor compliance by all parties, the source said.
A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said the group was awaiting Israel’s response to amendments it had submitted to mediators regarding two provisions in the roadmap.
On the issue of weapons, the source said some points had been removed and alternative proposals submitted.
AFP
