Trump says he has reached an agreement for the "disarmament" of Hamas
Israel has not yet officially commented on the announcement by the US president
WashingtonThe President of the United States, Donald Trump, said early Friday that his Peace Board has reached an agreement "for the complete disarmament of Hamas." Neither Hamas nor Israel have yet issued an official statement. Sources from the Islamist militia have confirmed to different media outlets that they have signed the agreement, but they link it to Tel Aviv fulfilling its part of the 20-point peace agreement.its part of the 20-point peace agreement. For all practical purposes, this condition is identical to the one that already existed before the announcement. It is still too early to say that this is the "monumental breakthrough" that Trump is touting.
The announcement of the agreement comes at a time when Trump finds himself cornered by the diplomatic fiasco with Iran and is seeking some political victory to exhibit in the face of growing questioning of the war within the US. It also coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House this Tuesday and his closed-door meeting with his partner.
Trump explained in a post on Truth Social that the agreement was reached thanks to the mediation work done by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. The steps to follow outlined in the publication, however, are nothing more than a repetition of what the 20-point peace plan already proposed: "as soon as disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force."
Official US sources cited by the Wall Street Journal indicate that the agreement is the beginning of an indefinite, multi-phase process to end Hamas's control over Gaza.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas's negotiating delegation, told Al Jazeera that the group "will not implement any step of the peace agreement in Gaza if the Israeli occupation forces do not fulfill their obligations according to the agreement." In more explicit statements to the Wall Street Journal, Hamad emphasized that "we did not say disarmament" and stressed that the plan remains conditional on Israel ending its military operations in Gaza and allowing the entry of humanitarian aid. In May of this year, Human Rights Watch denounced how Tel Aviv continued to undermine the channels for sending humanitarian aid to the Strip and how Gaza was once again in danger of starvation.
Meanwhile, Israeli sources tell Reuters that Tel Aviv will not withdraw from the yellow line in Gaza before Hamas has disarmed and the Strip has been demilitarized. So far, the Islamist group has refused to hand over weapons precisely because Israel has continued to attack the Strip despite the ceasefire.
The yellow line referred to by the Israeli source is the demarcation that was drawn to divide control of the Strip between the Palestinians and the Israeli army. The yellow line was established as the first phase of the progressive withdrawal of the Israeli army after all hostages were fully released. In recent months, Israel has been pushing the yellow line further into the Strip to control more territory, even though the peace plan's objective is for it to be progressively withdrawn to make way for the International Stabilization Force. The body was created as part of the peace plan to help train the new Palestinian police force and be responsible for controlling the Strip during the transition process.
Pending the publication of the official agreement, in theory the plan has a series of requirements. Within the next 14 days, an inventory of all weapons must be created, which will be supervised by the Palestinian National Committee. None of the weapons handed over will be transferred to Israel or other non-Palestinian groups. The International Stabilization Force and the new Palestinian police will be responsible for supervising the disarmament as Israel withdraws its troops according to the lines provided for in the peace plan. The phases of disarmament are completely conditioned on the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In a post on X, the Peace Board assures that the agreement is the result of "months of intense negotiations" and emphasizes how for the first time, "Hamas has officially committed to an action plan to hand over all weapons, which will be followed by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza." The organization assures that from now on a transition phase begins with the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.