CAIRO (AP) — Hamas said Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza. It marks a potential breakthrough in ending the war, but implementation faces major challenges.
Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government adamantly rejects.
Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force was to deploy.
But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.
Expectations of implementation are low
Disarming would represent a sea change for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, as lying at the heart of its identity.
Israel, meanwhile, appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough reelection battle, with opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at London’s Chatham House think tank, said expectations are low that Hamas will actually disarm or that Israel will withdraw from Gaza.
“I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes,’’ Quilliam said. “This is a massive decision that he has to make.”
“But with the prospect of the elections hanging over his head, with several Cabinet ministers and opposition leaders already counseling not to go ahead with the deal, I think he understands that doing so would likely scupper his chances of reelection,” he added.
The deal would be implemented in stages
In announcing the latest deal on social media, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”
“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,” he wrote.
A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by The Associated Press said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.
A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.
Israel currently controls around 60% of Gaza, areas that have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of the territory’s 2 million Palestinians are in the other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods.
