Full story
Deal announced, conditions clash
Hamas said Friday it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza, but the agreement’s implementation faces major challenges.
“Hamas said Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump”
NBC News reported that Hamas said laying down its heavy weapons would come later and be contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government rejects, while Israel’s statement said there will be no Israeli withdrawal before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarized.
The NPR account said Trump called the announcement a "historic breakthrough" and described a phased approach in which "As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force".
Al Jazeera reported that the roadmap was finalized after mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the US, and it said Israel has not publicly agreed while Hamas said it will not implement any part unless Israeli forces fulfill their obligations to withdraw.
The AP said the deal comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed and that officials described timelines for disarmament that could take between 200 and 350 days, even as Israel remained deeply skeptical.
Voices, skepticism, and pressure
In commentary from the region, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told U.N. reporters Friday that the only “good news” in recent days was Trump’s announcement and urged Israel and Hamas to follow the roadmap “without any questions, skepticism, or determination to undermine it.”
NBC News quoted Neil Quilliam of London’s Chatham House saying, “I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes,” and added that doing so would likely scupper Netanyahu’s chances of reelection.
The Jerusalem Post described a framework in which the IDF will not withdraw from the current Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip without the full disarmament of Hamas, while it also said there is currently a two-week ceasefire to finalize details of the process.
NPR reported that a senior Hamas official told NPR on Friday that Israel must withdraw from parts of Gaza first, and it also quoted the Board of Peace briefing that a transitional authority would "hold a full monopoly on weapons in the Gaza Strip".
France 24 reported that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the agreement as "unacceptable" and said it was "tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organising for the next massacre."
What’s at stake next
The dispute over sequencing is central to whether the disarmament process moves forward, with Hamas saying implementing the second phase is contingent on Israel committing to implement all items from its first phase and linking heavy weapons to stopping aggression and withdrawal from Gaza.
“its consent to include the heavy weapons file within the framework of the agreement was linked to and conditioned on stopping all forms of aggression and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
Al-Sharq quoted Hamas’s statement that its consent to include the heavy weapons file was conditioned on stopping all forms of aggression and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, while it also said the roadmap’s principles included a timetable and mechanisms to implement the second phase within 14 days of all parties’ approval.
CNN Arabic said the amended ceasefire roadmap consisted of 15 points and that it required all police weapons to be handed over to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza after it enters Palestinian territory, while weapons held by militias would be withdrawn and stored under the committee’s authority.
The Jerusalem Post said once the process begins, Israel will halt its fire and that Israel’s withdrawal from the Yellow Line will take place only once the process is complete and full demilitarization has been achieved, while it also said Hamas demands full withdrawal and Palestinian statehood.
NBC News added that Israel controls around 60% of Gaza, where areas have been mostly destroyed and depopulated, and it said most of the territory’s 2 million Palestinians are in the other part where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods.
