Trump Announces Breakthrough on Hamas Disarmament

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that talks in Cairo between mediators and Hamas leaders had produced an agreement on the phased disarmament of the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

Hamas, however, described the document as a draft agreement, while US officials acknowledged that Israel remains skeptical that the group will surrender its weapons.

“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”, Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the process would take place in phases.

He said the agreement was a critical step toward Gaza being governed by a new Palestinian administration working closely with the Board of Peace, which he established to oversee his plan for the territory.

A Hamas source told Reuters that the draft agreement stipulates that heavy weapons would be stored under the control of a Palestinian administration and could not be transferred to Israel.

“We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel's withdrawal from the Strip”, Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told Al Jazeera.

Before Trump’s announcement, an Israeli official said Israel had rejected the proposal. The country insists on the complete disarmament of Hamas, the removal of weapons from Gaza and the full demilitarization of the territory as preconditions for any further process.

A US official said Israel was “very skeptical that Hamas will disarm”. It also remains unclear how long the process would take.

(Reuters, lud)