WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (Jul 30) announced an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas, calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza.
Senior Hamas officials told AFP that the agreement reached with Israel includes provisions addressing the group’s weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
“An agreement has been reached regarding the issue of weapons … Furthermore, an agreement has been reached on a gradual withdrawal of (Israeli forces)” from the strip, a senior Hamas official said.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of the group’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”.
He said the issue of weapons is tied to Israel’s withdrawal, the deployment of the National Committee and reconstruction work in the territory.
There was no immediate statement from Israel.
Trump’s announcement came after sources familiar with the ongoing talks with mediators in Cairo told AFP that the Palestinian Islamist movement was progressing towards a deal involving the decommissioning of its weapons.
“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying disarmament would take place 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 neighbours,” he added, also thanking mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye.
The thorny issue of Hamas’s disarmament has been one of the key sticking points in the advancement of the ceasefire deal that has been in place between Israel and the group in Gaza since October.
Despite the ceasefire, violence has continued in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing at least four people, including two children, on Thursday, according to health officials.
Cairo is set to host a meeting “soon” of the Gaza truce mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Turkey, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported early Friday in Egypt.
The news outlet did not specify when the meeting would take place, but said that it would discuss implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, a roadmap for which Hamas and Palestinian factions have agreed to.
Under Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, the second phase of the ceasefire was to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
The plan also provides for a group of Palestinian technocrats, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), to assume day-to-day governance during Gaza’s transitional phase out of war.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.