Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, but many hurdles and uncertainty remain

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Thursday that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory.

Neither Hamas nor Israel gave immediate indication that they had agreed.

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed.

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said on social media.

“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels.

It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

Trump announced what he said was an agreement to realize one of the most difficult portions of the Gaza ceasefire while negotiations have stalled and military attacks have escalated in the war that the U.S. and Israel in February launched against Iran, a key sponsor of Hamas.

US and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one described by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace, an international body established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, was first formed.

The officials were unable to offer specific timelines for the disarmament of Hamas or other groups that operate in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but said the Gaza police force would turn over weapons to the technocratic Board of Peace-backed Gaza administration in the next two weeks.

The Gaza police force, however, does not include the vast majority of Hamas militants and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said.

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish at least behind-the-scenes control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation.

However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory.

The official said Trump would be “very, very disappointed” if Israel didn't adhere to the agreement. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Tuesday, but neither said much about what was discussed in their first face-to-face meeting since launching the war against Iran.

Israel’s UN Mission said it had no immediate comment.

The official added that Iran remains a wildcard in the equation because although it counseled Hamas members not to accept a deal, it is also not in a position to offer the group much support because it is preoccupied with the conflict with the United States.

Hamas previously had insisted on implementing the first phase of the ceasefire before moving to discuss its weapons. The group’s founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and it has been reluctant to give up an arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, that lies at the heart of its identity.

Hamas announced earlier this month, however, that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the ceasefire deal.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Israel’s military now controls more than half of Gaza, leaving Palestinians confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods.

Hamas officials say mediators and the US-backed Board of Peace would be responsible for ensuring that Israel complies with the terms of a proposed Gaza agreement, as negotiators reported rare progress toward a deal that could move the territory into a new phase of disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction.

The development came Thursday as Hamas representatives met mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in Cairo to work through the implementation of the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace framework.

Talks have focused on the most difficult issues: Hamas' weapons, the pace of Israeli military withdrawal and the mechanism for enforcing the agreement.

The latest discussions represent a potentially significant breakthrough after months of deadlock.

A central Hamas concern is what happens after the group begins giving up its weapons.

Hamas officials have sought assurances that Israel will carry out its own obligations, particularly a phased withdrawal from Gaza, rather than using Hamas' disarmament as a reason to maintain its military presence.

Under the proposed framework, mediators and the Board of Peace would monitor implementation and verify that both sides carry out their commitments.

A Board of Peace document presented to the United Nations says an implementation verification committee composed of mediators would verify reciprocal steps before each stage of the roadmap proceeds. Weapons would be transferred to a Palestinian national body rather than directly to Israel, then decommissioned and permanently rendered unusable.

That monitoring mechanism is crucial to the negotiations because neither side fully trusts the other to implement the agreement without outside guarantees.

Trump said Thursday that his Board of Peace had reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

Trump said disarmament would take place in phases alongside a gradual Israeli military withdrawal.

An International Stabilisation Force and a new Palestinian police force would help maintain security as the process proceeds.

Trump credited Egypt, Qatar and Turkey with helping mediate the agreement.

He said the deal would clear the way for a new Palestinian government to work with the Board of Peace on governing and rebuilding Gaza while providing Israel with security guarantees.

Despite Trump's announcement, significant questions remain.

Hamas had not immediately publicly endorsed Trump's characterization of the agreement, while Israeli officials have expressed dissatisfaction with aspects of the proposed terms.

The fundamental disagreement remains familiar: Israel wants Hamas completely disarmed; Hamas wants guarantees of Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war in exchange for surrendering its military capabilities.

The sequence matters enormously.

Hamas has previously resisted surrendering all of its weapons before receiving firm guarantees of an Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has insisted that Gaza cannot be securely demilitarized while Hamas retains an armed capability.

The Board of Peace is part of the broader US-backed framework for governing and rebuilding Gaza after the war.

Under the plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, the Board serves as a transitional administration and is associated with the deployment of an International Stabilization Force and a Palestinian technocratic committee to administer Gaza.

The intended sequence is broadly: Disarmament → Israeli withdrawal → security transition → Palestinian administration → reconstruction.

But negotiations have been attempting to determine exactly when and how each step occurs.

The Board's Gaza envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, has previously said the roadmap provides for weapons to be handed over to a Palestinian body, along with amnesty and reintegration arrangements for fighters who comply.

The agreement still faces political resistance inside Israel.

Israeli officials have insisted that Hamas must surrender its weapons, while some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have opposed a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Recent reporting has described the implementation of the broader peace plan as advancing only in "baby steps," with disagreements over Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal slowing progress.

That makes the proposed external monitoring mechanism particularly important.

For Hamas, the question is not simply whether it will disarm. It is who guarantees that Israel will reciprocate.

[With inputs from AP]