The reported agreement targets the hardest part of the Gaza ceasefire: Hamas’s weapons, tunnels and future role. The announcement is significant, but the path from pledge to enforcement remains uncertain.
Hamas agreed to a Trump-backed disarmament plan, Donald Trump said Thursday in Washington, and the deal requires Hamas to disarm before Israel would withdraw from Gaza and strikes would end. The Board of Peace announcement, discussed as Hamas representatives and mediators worked through Cairo, still faces major obstacles to implementation: a 14 days initial handover window, a longer process stretching many months, and unresolved guarantees nine months after the ceasefire signed last October.
By Friday, Trump said Israel was “very happy” with the agreement, according to Reuters. AP reported that a Hamas official said an agreement had been reached on disarmament, but also warned that the most difficult questions — enforcement, timing and Israeli confirmation — remain open.
The promise is disarmament
The core claim is simple and enormous: Hamas would surrender its weapons and dismantle the military infrastructure that has made it the dominant armed force in Gaza. Trump’s 20-point ceasefire framework also calls for the destruction of Hamas’s tunnel network, the removal of Hamas from Gaza governance and the arrival of a new Palestinian administrative structure.
That is why the announcement landed with such force. Disarmament has been one of the central obstacles to moving the ceasefire beyond hostage releases and prisoner exchanges toward a durable end to the war.
But the word “agreement” is doing a lot of work. U.S. and Board of Peace officials, speaking anonymously under White House ground rules, described a phased process rather than an immediate handover of all weapons.
The first step, according to AP’s account, would involve the Gaza police force turning over weapons to a Board of Peace-backed administration within the next two weeks. That does not cover most Hamas militants, heavy weapons or the tunnel system — the parts Israel is most likely to view as decisive.
Two timelines, two realities
The short timeline is the 14-day period for an initial handover by police forces. The longer timeline is far more consequential: AP reported that surrendering heavy weapons and decommissioning tunnels could take 200 to 350 days.
That gap matters. A symbolic transfer of rifles by police may demonstrate momentum, but it would not by itself eliminate Hamas’s military capacity. Heavy weapons, command structures, hidden caches and tunnels are the heart of the security problem.
For Israel, the practical question is not whether Hamas has accepted language in a plan. It is whether weapons can be identified, collected, verified and kept out of circulation after Israeli forces pull back.
For Palestinians in Gaza, the timeline raises a different concern: whether withdrawal, aid and reconstruction will be delayed while outside powers debate compliance. A plan that promises eventual relief but leaves daily life unchanged could quickly lose public credibility.
Israel’s withdrawal is conditional
Trump said the agreement would be carried out in carefully structured phases. As disarmament is completed, he said, Israeli forces would withdraw and an International Stabilization Force would work with a new Palestinian police force to secure Gaza.
That sequencing is the central bargain: Hamas gives up arms; Israel pulls back; a new security and governing arrangement fills the vacuum. On paper, it offers each side something it says it needs.
On the ground, the situation is less clean. AP reported that Israeli airstrikes were still taking place, with Israel saying it was targeting Hamas and other militants who posed a threat. That underlines the immediate problem: a ceasefire architecture exists, but violence has not fully stopped.
Trump said Friday that Israel was pleased with the deal. AP, however, reported that Israel had not given an indication that it had agreed to the newly described disarmament arrangement. Until Israeli officials publicly endorse the terms and the triggers for withdrawal, the plan remains partly a U.S.-announced framework.
Why Cairo and Washington matter
The diplomacy is running through familiar pressure points: Washington, where Trump and the Board of Peace are trying to drive implementation, and Cairo, where Hamas, mediators and regional actors have long used Egyptian channels to negotiate Gaza arrangements.
The timing is important. The announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed last October. That ceasefire produced real movement on hostages, but its second phase — disarmament, withdrawal, governance and reconstruction — largely stalled.
AP’s tracking of the ceasefire shows why the next phase is so hard. Living hostages were released, and remains in Hamas’s possession were returned, but other obligations remain incomplete. Aid has entered Gaza, but humanitarian groups say it has not reached the promised levels. Large-scale reconstruction has not begun.
That creates a trust deficit on all sides. Israel wants security guarantees before leaving. Hamas wants assurances that disarmament will not simply leave it exposed. Palestinians in Gaza want the war to end, but also need governance, policing, food, medical care and rebuilding that have not yet materialized at scale.
Hamas faces an existential choice
For Hamas, disarmament is not a technical concession. Its weapons, tunnels and armed cadres are central to its power. Agreeing in principle to give them up would mark a profound shift — if the agreement is implemented as described.
That is why the details matter more than the announcement. Who decides what counts as full disarmament? Who verifies that tunnels are destroyed? What happens to Hamas members who surrender weapons? What role, if any, do they have in civilian life afterward?
There is also the question of other armed groups in Gaza, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad. U.S. officials cited by AP said they could not provide specific timelines for the disarmament of Hamas or other groups operating in Gaza. A deal that binds only part of the armed landscape may not satisfy Israel’s security demands.
The governance piece is equally sensitive. Trump’s plan envisions a technocratic Palestinian committee supervised by the Board of Peace, with Hamas excluded from running Gaza. Supporters may see that as a path to reconstruction and order. Critics may see it as externally imposed authority unless Palestinians view the new structure as legitimate.
The breakthrough is not the finish
The reported deal is important because it targets the issue that has blocked the ceasefire’s next stage: Hamas’s arms. If Hamas truly disarms, and if Israel accepts verified compliance, the agreement could open the way to withdrawal, reconstruction and a different security order in Gaza.
The obstacles are just as clear. The initial 14-day handover does not appear to cover the most dangerous weapons. The tunnel and heavy-weapons process could last close to a year. Israeli approval has not been fully established in public. The international force and Palestinian police still have to be organized, deployed and trusted.
For now, the safest reading is this: Trump has announced a potentially significant agreement reached through his Board of Peace, Hamas has signaled acceptance of disarmament, and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza is tied to a phased process that has not yet been proved workable.
That makes the next few weeks critical. The first visible test will be whether any weapons are actually handed over, whether Israel reduces operations in response, and whether Washington, Cairo and regional partners can turn a headline agreement into enforceable steps on the ground.
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