Overnight, US President Donald Trump announced that an agreement had been reached for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with a roadmap for the the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Trump said the agreement was a “critical” step towards a new Palestinian government, and that the agreement would be carried out in “structured phases”.
He also said that once Hamas’s disarmament is complete, “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”.
Trump said Israel’s forces in Gaza would be replaced by an International Stabilization Force working with a “new Palestinian police force” once disarmament was complete.
“Under this agreement, Gaza will finally be in the hands of a new Palestinian government that serves its PEOPLE,” he said.
Hamas leaders have been in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, since late last week discussing the ceasefire deal with mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye facilitated by Trump’s Board of Peace.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the was making “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement”, BBC reported.
“Israel will not intervene in the issue of disarmament. The National Committee is the body that will undertake this task,” he said, referring to the National Committee for Administration of Gaza (NCAG),” he said.
“These negotiations were difficult and hard, and we tried to reach the best possible formula that was achievable,” Hamad also told Al Jazeera.
BBC said this morning that they had obtained the text of the four-page roadmap, “which sets out a phased process linking Hamas’s disarmament to a gradual Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of a new Palestinian transitional authority backed by an international stabilisation force.”
US officials said the plan was deliberately built on “zero trust” and with verification, with neither Hamas nor Israel moving to the next phase until the other has fulfilled its commitments.
They said smaller groups in Gaza would be disarmed first, before Hamas begins dismantling what they described as its state-like military infrastructure of tunnels, weapons depots and production facilities – a process they acknowledged would take considerably longer.
A statement has not yet been issued from Israel, but it is reported that Trump has said he will be “very disappointed” if Tel Aviv does not agree to withdrawal.
Despite the ceasefire brokered in October, violence has continued in Gaza. Yesterday, Israeli strikes killed at least four people, including two children, Hamas health officials said.