Palestinian militant group accepts phased disarmament in exchange for Israeli withdrawal, but Israel has yet to formally endorse the agreement

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GAZA CITY — Hamas announced Friday that it has agreed to a US-brokered deal to end its war with Israel, committing to hand over its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee in exchange for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The agreement, announced late Thursday by US President Donald Trump, calls for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. Trump hailed the development as a “historic” and “monumental step toward lasting peace and security”.

Under the terms of the deal, a committee established by Trump’s Board of Peace — a US-led body created in January 2026 to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction — will govern the enclave and oversee the process of storing the Islamist movement’s weapons. The National Committee for Administration of Gaza (NCAG) will undertake the task of disarmament, with Israel not intervening in the process.

Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the movement was making “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement”. Hamas officials told AFP that they expect mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel complies with the deal’s terms, which include withdrawal from Gaza.

However, Israel has yet to officially comment on the announcement. A political source told AFP “that there will be no withdrawal whatsoever” from Israeli forces’ current lines “unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament”. The Israeli source also said that “the issue of Gaza did not come up” during this week’s meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the agreement as “unacceptable”, saying it was “tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organising for the next massacre”. Other Israeli sources have indicated that Israel intends to reject the plan, arguing it does not adequately address disarmament.

The Board of Peace confirmed in a post on X that Hamas had “agreed to a detailed Roadmap for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire”. Nickolay Mladenov, the Board’s high representative for Gaza, said Friday the deal “took months of very difficult negotiations”. “What happens next matters even more. Implementation and verification have to be real,” Mladenov wrote on X.

Trump, in an earlier social media post, said that once Hamas is disarmed, “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”.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed the deal, but cautioned that success “depends on the full commitment of all parties”. “A lot needs to fall in place for this to work,” Kallas said on social media. “Verifying Hamas’ compliance will be a significant challenge. Israel would need to eventually withdraw from Gaza”.

Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News said Friday that Cairo will host a meeting soon of the truce’s mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Turkey, focused on the second phase of the ceasefire plan.

Despite the October ceasefire, violence has continued in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing at least four people, including two children, on Thursday, according to health officials. The agreement now faces the critical challenge of implementation, with both sides holding conflicting expectations about the sequence of disarmament and withdrawal.