Senior Hamas official says Gaza agreement announced by US President depends on Israel first meeting its commitments under last year’s Sharm el-Sheikh ceasefire

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CAIRO — A senior Hamas official told Reuters on Friday that implementation of the Gaza peace deal announced by US President Donald Trump would depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an agreement reached last year, revealing continued distance between the two sides despite Trump’s declaration of a “major milestone”.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump announced that his “Board of Peace” had reached an agreement for the “complete disarmament of Hamas” and other armed groups in Gaza. The announcement followed months of faltering efforts to keep the ceasefire agreement reached last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on track, and it was not immediately clear how strongly either Hamas or Israel stood behind it.

Previous attempts to reach an agreement have foundered amid mutual suspicion and each side’s insistence that the other must move first. On Friday, that familiar pattern appeared to persist, with both sides reiterating conflicting demands.

Hamas: Israel Must Move First

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the group was ready to accept an agreement he described as “difficult and painful”. However, he avoided using the term “disarmament” and said the agreement was a “comprehensive framework” that would depend on Israel implementing the first phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement.

Under that agreement, Hamad said, Israel was obliged to end its attacks in Gaza and withdraw its forces to where they stood in October, as well as increase the flow of goods and aid coming into the enclave. Only then would Hamas agree to hand over its weapons for storage by the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic body set up to run the enclave.

“We insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement,” Hamad said.

Hamas also issued a statement on Friday saying the first step towards an agreement would have to be a commitment by Israel “to stopping the killing and ending its attacks”.

Israel: No Withdrawal Without Genuine Disarmament

An Israeli official said Israel’s position remained that “there will be no withdrawal whatsoever of the IDF from the current Yellow Line unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament”. The Yellow Line refers to a military demarcation line agreed in the ceasefire.

Far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party, denounced the draft agreement as “unacceptable” in his Telegram channel, and said Israel’s policy of assassinating Hamas leaders must continue.

The 15-Point Roadmap

Trump’s Board of Peace published a 15-point roadmap, which called on both Israel and Hamas, together with other Palestinian factions, to implement fully the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, in particular the end to military operations in Gaza.

The document outlined steps to allow NCAG to assume responsibility for civil governance in Gaza, and said it would oversee a process to “decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels”. “This process shall be linked to an Israeli withdrawal, in phases, from the areas under its control in Gaza,” it said, adding that no weapons would be handed over to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.

Reactions

NCAG welcomed “the progress announced yesterday regarding the roadmap and the opening of a path toward beginning its implementation” and said it was ready to assume its responsibilities. The European Union, as well as Germany and Britain — all potential donors to a future reconstruction effort in Gaza — also welcomed the announcement.

On the ground, however, Gazans remained sceptical. Inside a tent encampment in Gaza City, displaced Palestinians urged Trump to compel Israel to abide by the agreement. “You Trump, you should start it from your end. Ceasefire, stop the assassinations and complete the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” said Samir Ayad, 60. “We are not seeing any agreement at all, nothing from what he (Trump) is saying,” he told Reuters.

Within hours of Trump’s announcement, Gazan medical authorities said one Palestinian was killed and several others had been wounded in at least two Israeli airstrikes and by gunfire in the enclave. The Israeli military said it was reviewing one incident in which a strike intended to hit a member of Hamas’ armed wing was diverted after uninvolved individuals were identified, and said it was unaware of the shooting.

Political Context

On Tuesday, Trump met in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election in October in which he may need the support of right-wing parties that have rejected previous deals in Gaza. An Israeli source said the issue of Gaza did not come up during Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump.