ReutersUS President Donald Trump says the Board of Peace has reached an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official has told the BBC they have agreed to the Board of Peace’s plan to completely disarm in Gaza and that an official statement will be released soon. Israel has yet to comment.
Trump said Israel would withdraw from Gaza “as disarmament is completed” and called the agreement “a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government”.
The second phase of a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan includes the disarmament of Hamas.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “This is a major milestone in the implementation of the Trump 20-Point Plan. The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases. As disarmament is completed, 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.”
He also thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
Cairo would host a Gaza mediator meeting on the second phase of the ceasefire plan, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Egyptian state media.
Earlier in the day, unnamed sources who spoke to Reuters reported that talks between the mediators and Hamas leaders in Cairo on implementing the US-brokered Gaza peace plan had made rare progress, but an Israeli official said the proposed terms were not satisfactory.
Following Trump’s announcement, the Times of Israel reported, citing an unnamed source, that the agreement had been signed between negotiators from Hamas as well as the board and mediating countries.
But it said that “an Israeli office” issued a statement saying the disarmament proposal did not meet Jerusalem’s demands.
Earlier in the day, Israeli media reported that Israel was opposed to a deal that was being discussed with Hamas.
In April this year, Hamas rejected the disarmament plan of a top figure in Trump’s Gaza peace efforts, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.
Earlier this month, Hamas elected a new leader, Khalil al-Hayya. He replaced Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in October 2024. As the chief negotiator for Hamas, Hayya led the group’s delegations at indirect ceasefire talks, meeting mediators in Egypt and Qatar.
The BBC reported earlier this year that the board was originally thought to be aimed at helping end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and oversee reconstruction. But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant functions of the UN.
Hamas led an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Israel responded by launching a massive military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,290 people have been killed, including 21,280 children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
