Hamas said on July 31 it agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
The group’s disarmament has been one of the key sticking points in the advancement of a ceasefire deal that has been in place in Gaza since October.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on July 30 an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas, calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza.
Hamas officials told AFP a committee established by Trump’s Board of Peace to govern Gaza would oversee the process of storing the Islamist movement’s weapons.
The group said it expected mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel complied with the deal’s terms, which included Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
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.”
“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).
Despite the October ceasefire, violence has continued in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing at least four people, including two children, on July 30, according to health officials.
The Board of Peace confirmed in a post on X that Hamas had “agreed to a detailed Roadmap for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire.”
“Our focus now turns to implementation,” the organisation wrote, adding the NCAG will “soon begin a phased transition toward full authority.”
Trump, in an earlier social media post, said that once Hamas’ disarmament is complete, “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 neighbors.”
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, said on July 31 the deal “took months of very difficult negotiations.”
“What happens next matters even more. Implementation and verification have to be real,” Mladenov wrote on X.
“Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning,” he added.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News said that Cairo is set to host a meeting “soon” of the Gaza truce mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Türkiye, focused on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Source: Hürriyet Daily News
