Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, has agreed to begin disarming under a ceasefire arrangement aimed at paving the way for a new civilian administration in Gaza.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced an
agreement providing for Hamas’ “complete disarmament”, describing it as a major
breakthrough towards establishing a new Palestinian-led government in the
territory.
Trump said the deal marked “a major milestone” in the
implementation of his 20-point peace plan and would be carried out in carefully
sequenced phases.
He said Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza as the
disarmament process progresses, while an international stabilisation force
would work alongside a new Palestinian police force to assume responsibility
for security in the territory.
“The threat that emerged from Gaza on October 7 will NOT be
allowed to rebuild! Under this agreement, Gaza will finally be in the hands of
a new Palestinian government that serves its PEOPLE,” Trump said.
However, Hamas officials told AFP that the group’s weapons
would be placed under the supervision of a committee established by Trump’s
board of peace, which is expected to oversee the storage and eventual
decommissioning of the arms.
The officials said they expect the mediators and the board
of peace to ensure that Israel fulfils its commitments under the agreement,
including the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel has consistently maintained that Hamas
must surrender all its weapons before any military withdrawal can take place.
Before Thursday’s announcement, an Israeli political source
reiterated that the removal of weapons from Gaza and the territory’s full
demilitarisation remained prerequisites for any political process.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ negotiating delegation, said
the movement accepted the concessions to ease the suffering of Palestinians.
“We are making concessions for the sake of our people in the
Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement,” he said.
Although a ceasefire has been in effect since October,
hostilities have persisted in parts of Gaza.
On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people,
including two children, according to health officials.
Reacting to the agreement on X, Nickolay Mladenov, the board
of peace’s high representative for Gaza, described the deal as the outcome of
months of difficult negotiations.
“Today, agreement has been reached on the decommissioning of
weapons and civilian transition in Gaza. It took months of very difficult
negotiations to get here. There were several points when I did not believe we
would make it,” Mladenov said.
He said the withdrawal of Israeli forces must proceed
alongside the decommissioning of weapons, adding that the NCAG and the
Palestinian people would require sustained political and practical support to
assume responsibility for Gaza’s future.
“What the agreement says matters. What happens next matters
even more. Implementation and verification have to be real,” he added.
“Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning. And
the NCAG and the Palestinian people need the political and practical backing to
take charge of their own future.
“Grateful to Donald Trump for driving this through and to
the US, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the UAE for their support and for helping
keep negotiations on track when they could easily have collapsed.
“I also thank the UN Security Council for remaining focused
on our work and consistently stressing the importance of fully implementing
Resolution 2803.”
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