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Disarmament Deal Announced
US President Donald Trump announced a “HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” and said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”
“Hamas said Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump”
The plan, as described by Trump, links Israeli withdrawal to disarmament and calls for an International Stabilization Force to work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for security in Gaza.
Hamas said it would begin disarming as part of the deal, but NBC News reported that it made disarmament contingent on Israel ending its strikes and withdrawing from Gaza.
In the same reporting, Hamas also said laying down heavy weapons would come later in the process and was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government rejects, while Israel had not officially commented on the deal.
Rejections and Conditionality
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called the Hamas disarmament plan “not acceptable” and said committing to stop “the eliminations” of Hamas would be “tantamount to consenting for Hamas to regroup toward the next massacre.”
DW reported that Ben Gvir’s remarks were the first from a senior Israeli official about Hamas agreeing to disarm, while “Israel has yet to comment on the plan.”
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told CNN that “We will not begin any weapons-related steps until Israel implements these commitments,” framing the agreement as a package with conditions on ceasefire, targeted killings, troop withdrawal, and humanitarian aid.
CNN also reported that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement said early Friday that reports of the agreement were “inaccurate,” while an Israeli official told CNN that the issue of Gaza did not come up during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump at the White House this week.
Roadmap, Timelines, and Risks
The revised roadmap described by CNN Arabic said the amended ceasefire plan contained 15 provisions, and it required that all police weapons be handed over to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza after its entry into Palestinian territories.
“issued an amended ceasefire roadmap consisting of 15 provisions”
CNN Arabic also said weapons in the possession of militias would be “withdrawn and stored under the authority of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza,” and that a process to withdraw and store heavy weapons, military manufacturing sites, and tunnels in Gaza would begin after the National Committee enters and an “international force to achieve stability” is deployed.
NBC News reported that the decommissioning and storage of heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels would begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces, and that the process could take between 200 and 350 days according to a Board of Peace official.
In parallel, Le Monde reported that Ghazi Hamad said the process “will take about fourteen days, or more,” but added it would depend on the involvement of the Israeli side, while Hamas negotiator “If Israel does not implement the agreement, we will not do so either,” summarized the movement’s position.
