Trump announces 'monumental step' toward Gaza peace as Hamas agrees to disarm

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - JERUSALEM — Hamas and other Palestinian factions have agreed to a document setting out a plan for their disarmament in Gaza, in what United States President Donald Trump has called “a monumental step” toward peace and security.

A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the group has agreed to the Board of Peace's plan to completely disarm in Gaza and that an official statement would be released soon.

Thursday’s agreement stipulates that the precise disarmament roadmap must be prepared within 14 days, with possible extensions subject to the approval of an international verification body, and the agreement of all parties.

The board said in a statement that the agreement concludes months of "intensive, good faith negotiations", and that the board's focus is now on implementation.

It is part of the second phase of a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan that includes the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“These negotiations were difficult and hard, and we tried to reach the best possible formula that was achievable" while remaining committed to safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people, said Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating delegation.

However, Hamad said the issue of disarmament is linked to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the territory’s reconstruction.

Hamad’s remarks came after Trump announced that an agreement had been reached for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with Israeli forces set to withdraw in phases as the process moves forward.

Trump also credited Egypt, Qatar and Türkey for helping broker what he described as a “historic breakthrough,” saying the agreement would be implemented gradually, with an International Stabilization Force working alongside a new Palestinian police force to assume responsibility for security in Gaza.

“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.”

In remarks to Al Jazeera channel, Hamad said Israel would have no role in the disarmament process, which would instead be carried out by a Palestinian national committee.

He stressed that Hamas would not implement any disarmament measures unless Israel first fulfils its obligations under the agreement.

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.

The ceasefire was brokered under Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza, which is being overseen by the Board of Peace, which he chairs.

Despite the ceasefire which took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, Israel has continued daily attacks across Gaza, killing 1,214 Palestinians and injuring 3,977 others, most of them women and children, while causing widespread destruction.

Cairo is set to host a meeting “soon” of the Gaza truce mediators, including the United States, 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.

Earlier, a diplomatic source told AFP: “We continue to advance the implementation roadmap that offers a balanced and pragmatic path forward, with all weapons decommissioned and a phased transition of responsibilities taking place to hand over full authority to the technocratic government.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there would be “no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people. One authority, one law, one weapon”.

The roadmap, the source said, would create “a process for the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities”.

“All weapons, heavy and light, will be under full control of the NCAG in coordination with and with the support of the ISF,” the source added, referring to the International Stabilisation Force, a fledgling body envisaged to comprise multinational troops operating under Trump’s Board of Peace.

A Hamas source familiar with the talks told AFP earlier Thursday that the movement is “awaiting the Israeli response to the amendments we recently submitted to the mediators”.

The source said the amendments concerned two articles in the roadmap presented by the Board of Peace.

Regarding the article concerning weapons, the Hamas source said that “some points were removed, and alternatives were proposed”.

An Israeli political source told AFP that the proposed deal does not “satisfactorily” address Israeli demands.

“Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and full demilitarization of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the source said.

The source also said that “the issue of Gaza did not come up at all” in the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Trump in Washington this week.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others, most of them women and children, while destroying about 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure.