US President Donald Trump said a deal had been struck to fully disarm Hamas, presenting the agreement as a decisive breakthrough in efforts to move Gaza toward new Palestinian governance after months of war and fragile diplomacy.
Senior Hamas officials said this morning that an agreement had been reached.
“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the disarmament process would unfold in “carefully structured phases.”
“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilisation Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbours,” he added, while thanking mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.
US President Donald Trump called the move a ‘monumental step’ toward lasting peace
The announcement came even as the ceasefire has failed to stop all bloodshed in Gaza. Health officials said Israeli strikes killed at least four people yesterday, among them two children.
Egypt is expected to convene a meeting “soon” of the mediators involved in the Gaza truce, including the United States, Qatar and Turkey, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported early this morning.
The outlet gave no date for the talks, but said they would focus on carrying out the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, following agreement by Hamas and Palestinian factions on a roadmap.
Under Mr Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, that second phase was designed to include the disarmament of Hamas alongside a staged Israeli military pullback from the territory.
The framework also calls for Palestinian technocrats, operating as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), to take charge of daily governance as Gaza moves through its post-war transition.
‘No exceptions’
Earlier, a diplomatic source said, “We continue to advance the implementation roadmap that offers a balanced and pragmatic path forward, with all weapons decommissioned and a phased transition of responsibilities taking place to hand over full authority to the technocratic government.”
The source, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to brief the public, said the arrangement would allow “no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people. One authority, one law, one weapon”.
Under the 20-point plan, the second phase of the ceasefire was to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory
The roadmap, according to the source, would establish “a process for the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities”.
“All weapons, heavy and light, will be under full control of the NCAG in coordination with and with the support of the ISF,” the source said, referring to the International Stabilisation Force, an emerging multinational body envisioned as operating under Mr Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’.
The source said compliance by both sides would be monitored through a verification mechanism.
On the article dealing with weapons, a Hamas source said that “some points were removed, and alternatives were proposed”.
An Israeli political source said the proposed agreement does not meet Israeli demands “satisfactorily”.
“Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and full demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the source said.
The source also said that “the issue of Gaza did not come up at all” during this week’s Washington meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mr Trump.
