Trump’s Hamas Disarmament Deal Meets the Same Old Standoff

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the Board of Peace reached a historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, to unfold in carefully structured phases. Israeli forces would withdraw as the process advances, he said, while an International Stabilization Force works with a new Palestinian police force.

The claim lands nine months into a U.S.-brokered ceasefire whose second phase had stalled precisely on weapons and withdrawal sequencing. Hamas officials quickly confirmed a deal on arms and gradual Israeli pullback. An Israeli political source called the terms unsatisfactory.

Trump Frames a Monumental Step

On Truth Social, Trump wrote that the Board of Peace secured “the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.” He called it a monumental step toward lasting peace and security. Disarmament would proceed in phases. As it finished, Israeli forces would leave and the International Stabilization Force plus a new Palestinian police force would keep Gaza safe for residents and neighbors.

He thanked mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. The announcement, he added, advances a new Palestinian government that will work with the Board of Peace while giving Israel the security it deserves. Two U.S. officials later described months of delicate talks that produced Hamas acceptance of the framework.

• Phased disarmament of heavy and light weapons under NCAG control with ISF support
• Gradual Israeli withdrawal timed to completed stages
• Tunnel and depot elimination plus destruction of production facilities
• Verification mechanism to check compliance by each side

A diplomatic source briefed on the roadmap said there would be “no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people. One authority, one law, one weapon.” All weapons would fall under full control of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza in coordination with the International Stabilization Force.

Hamas Ties Arms to Withdrawal and Reconstruction

Senior Hamas officials told reporters an agreement covers the weapons issue and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Strip. The movement now expects mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel meets its side.

Israel will not intervene in the issue of disarmament. The National Committee is the body that will undertake this task.

Ghazi Hamad, a member of the negotiating team, made that point clear. He said the movement was making concessions for the people of Gaza to end killing and displacement. Weapons are tied to Israel’s withdrawal, the deployment of the National Committee, and reconstruction work. A senior official added that the NCAG would manage and execute the cataloguing and storage of weapons on an agreed timetable.

Earlier Hamas sources had said the group awaited an Israeli response to amendments it submitted and that some points on weapons had been removed or replaced. The public confirmation on Friday closed that loop on the Palestinian side, at least in public messaging.

Israel Still Wants Full Removal First

An Israeli political source said the proposed deal does not satisfactorily address Israeli demands. Israel wants complete disarmament of Hamas, including removal of weapons from Gaza and full demilitarization of the Strip as a precondition for any process. The same source said the Gaza issue did not come up at all in the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump in Washington this week.

Israel’s UN Mission offered no immediate comment. The gap is structural. Hamas presents disarmament as concurrent with withdrawal and reconstruction under Palestinian technocratic control. Israel frames full demilitarization and weapons removal as the entry ticket before deeper steps proceed.

Despite the ceasefire that began in October, Israeli strikes continued. Health officials said at least four people, including two children, were killed on Thursday. Israel’s military still controls more than half of Gaza. Palestinians remain concentrated in damaged neighborhoods and tent camps.

The Board Machinery That Must Deliver

The Board of Peace is the body Trump chairs to oversee the 20-point plan endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803. Its Board of Peace founding charter and mission stresses pragmatic results, ownership by local actors, and departure from institutions that institutionalized crisis. Founding members include the United States, Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and more than a dozen other states.

A January White House statement detailed the operating structure. Dr. Ali Sha’ath leads the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza as a technocratic body for day-to-day governance and services. Major General Jasper Jeffers commands the International Stabilization Force for security, demilitarization support, and aid delivery. Nickolay Mladenov serves as High Representative for Gaza, linking the Board to the NCAG on the ground. Executive board names include Secretary Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Sir Tony Blair and others with portfolios covering reconstruction, investment and regional ties. The White House appointments for NCAG and ISF placed these roles under Trump’s chairmanship.

Earlier pledges pointed to roughly 20,000 ISF troops from countries including Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Morocco, with Egypt and Jordan training a Palestinian police force expected to number about 12,000. A UN report on Resolution 2803 implementation describes the NCAG as the sole legitimate transitional authority for civilian governance and security, with the ISF operating under unified U.S. command in consultation with Egypt and Israel.

That architecture now faces its first hard compliance test. The same roadmap that promised demilitarization months ago produced little public progress until this week’s announcement.

Who Controls Force After the Hand-Over

Under the announced terms, the NCAG takes full control of heavy and light weapons with ISF support. Tunnels, depots and production sites are to be eliminated. A new Palestinian police force shares day-to-day security responsibility with the international force once Israeli units pull back.

Hamas has already dissolved its own Gaza governing committee in earlier steps and signaled readiness to transfer civilian authority. The practical question is residual coercive capacity. Analysts note Hamas’s decentralized structure survived leadership losses during the war. Public opinion data from late 2025 showed large majorities of Palestinians rejecting disarmament even as a condition to stop fighting, viewing arms as tied to occupation rather than internal legitimacy.

Iran remains a background factor. One official noted Tehran counselled against a deal yet is preoccupied with its own conflict with the United States and in no position to offer substantial support. That weakens one traditional external backstop for rejectionists inside Hamas, but does not erase the domestic political cost of appearing to surrender arms without visible Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction.

Earlier Attempts Left Clear Lessons

Regional militia disarmament efforts have a poor record when sequencing and verification stay vague. Lebanon’s Taif Accords called for militias to relinquish weapons; Hezbollah retained a parallel force for decades. Prior Gaza ceasefires repeatedly stalled on the same demilitarization language that now returns under a new institutional wrapper.

Phase one of the current plan already faced incomplete Israeli pullbacks, continued strikes, and disputes over hostages and remains. Phase two was supposed to open with demilitarization talks and further withdrawal once the technocratic committee stood up. Four months after the formal start of that phase, little had moved until the Board’s latest claim. Donors have hesitated on large reconstruction packages while weapons questions stayed open.

The current text tries to close those gaps with a verification mechanism, NCAG custody of arms, and explicit linkage of Israeli withdrawal to completed stages. Whether those clauses survive contact with ground realities is the open variable. Crowd reaction on X treated the announcement with heavy skepticism, some calling it a distraction from other fronts and others noting that Israel’s wait-and-see posture already signals the next friction point.

The First Tests Arrive Quickly

What We Know

• Trump and Hamas both describe an agreement covering weapons and phased Israeli withdrawal
• NCAG is designated to catalogue and store arms; ISF provides support and verification
• Mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey remain central; Cairo meeting of truce parties is expected soon

What’s Unconfirmed

• Exact timetable, inspection protocols and definition of “completed” stages
• Israeli cabinet acceptance of the sequencing as written
• Composition, rules of engagement and arrival date for the full ISF contingent

Cairo is preparing a mediators’ meeting to discuss second-phase implementation. Violence on the ground has not paused. The war that began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack that killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages has left more than 73,000 Palestinians dead according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, including deaths after the ceasefire. Reconstruction cannot scale while tunnels and rocket capacity remain contested.

The Board of Peace now owns the claim of a complete solution. Its untested enforcement tools, the mismatched sequencing still visible in Israeli and Hamas statements, and the residual capacity of armed groups will decide whether Thursday’s announcement becomes the pivot or another entry in the long list of announced breakthroughs that stalled in the details.