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Disarmament Deal Announced
Hamas said 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 NBC News reported that implementation faces major challenges.
“Hamas said Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump”
Hamas told NBC News that laying down its heavy weapons would come later in the process and was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government rejects.
The Associated Press framework described by NBC News links disarmament and withdrawal in stages, with Trump saying the agreement would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”
NBC News also reported that a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration, but progress stalled as Israel said everything hinged on Hamas disarming and Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing regular strikes.
In parallel, Al Jazeera reported that the U.S.-led Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force for Gaza announced that mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the U.S. had finalised a roadmap for the next phase of the ceasefire.
Who Holds Weapons
Al Jazeera said the agreement is aimed at fully ending Israel’s war on Gaza, including making provisions to disarm and surrender weapons in stages, while Israel must withdraw its forces over a period of time.
Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera that “Hamas will not implement any step of the Gaza peace deal if the Israeli occupation forces do not fulfil their obligations under the agreement.”
NBC News reported that a copy of the agreement obtained and verified by the Associated Press says all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza upon its arrival in the enclave.
NBC News further stated that the process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels would begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces.
Separately, Ynetnews cited a Board of Peace source saying the key sentence in the document is that once sections 7, 8 and 9 are completed, “the only body that will hold weapons in the Gaza Strip will be the technocratic committee.”
Stakes and Implementation Risks
NBC News reported that expectations of implementation are low, quoting Chatham House expert Neil Quilliam saying, “I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes,” and adding that the decision is “a massive decision that he has to make.”
“I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes”
NBC News also said an Israeli official told reporters there will be no Israeli withdrawal before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarized, and it reported that Israel currently controls around 60% of Gaza.
In the same reporting, NBC News described a timeline in which heavy weapons and tunnels would come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, according to a Board of Peace official.
The Atlantic Council framed the stakes around whether Hamas’s agreement covers more than heavy weapons, noting the question of whether the deal commits Hamas to giving up “light and personal weapons as well, such as AK-47s and handguns.”
Al Jazeera reported that the announcement has been met with both hope and scepticism as Palestinians continue to suffer daily Israeli attacks and repeated displacement, with severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter.
