US President Donald Trump announced on July 31st that he had reached an agreement on the complete disarmament of Hamas and armed groups in Gaza, considering this an important step towards a new Palestinian government.
On the social networking platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump said disarmament will be carried out in stages. When this process is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw and the International Task Force (ISF) will coordinate with the new Palestinian police force to take over responsibility for ensuring the safety of Gaza. Mr. Trump also thanked the intermediaries including Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
Senior Hamas officials confirmed to AFP that the agreement reached with Israel includes a provision on handling weapons and a roadmap for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. Sources from Hamas said the organization is awaiting feedback from Israel on amendments to 2 provisions in the roadmap proposed by the Peace Council, in which some weapons points have been removed and replaced by other options.
A diplomatic source revealed that the roadmap will create a process of eliminating all tunnels, warehouses and weapons production facilities. All heavy and light weapons will be under the full control of the National Commission for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), with support from the International Task Force, applying the principle of "One government, one law, one weapon".
On the contrary, an Israeli political source said that the current proposal has not adequately met the requirements of Israel when this country demands the complete disarmament of Hamas and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip as a prerequisite. The source also said that the Gaza issue was not mentioned in the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Donald Trump in Washington this week. Israel has not yet made an immediate official statement.
The issue of disarmament of Hamas is one of the key bottlenecks in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas since October. Despite the ceasefire, violence continues as Israeli attacks on July 30 killed at least 4 people, including 2 children. Egyptian media reported that Cairo is about to hold a meeting between intermediaries to discuss the deployment of phase two in Mr. Trump's 20-point peace plan.
