Hamas says it will disarm under Trump-backed Gaza ceasefire deal

Cairo,UPDATED: Jul 31, 2026 22:44 IST

Hamas said on Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by US President Donald Trump, in what could be a breakthrough in efforts to end the war in Gaza. The deal also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from the territory, though major questions remain over how and when it can be carried out.

Hamas said the later stage of giving up its heavy weapons would depend on the creation of a Palestinian state, a step that Israel's current government strongly rejects. Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a US-brokered ceasefire announced last October, and expectations of implementation remain low.

The October agreement had called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration, while Israel was to withdraw and an Stabilisation Force was to deploy. Progress later stalled, with Israel saying everything depended on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing regular strikes on Gaza.

Disarming would mark a major shift for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, as central to its identity. Israel, meanwhile, appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions before its October elections, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing a difficult re-election contest amid criticism over the October 7, 2023 attack.

Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at Chatham House in London, said expectations were low that Hamas would actually disarm or that Israel would withdraw from Gaza. "I think that Netanyahu's silence speaks volumes," Quilliam said. "This is a massive decision that he has to make." He added: "But with the prospect of the elections hanging over his head, with several Cabinet ministers and opposition leaders already counseling not to go ahead with the deal, I think he understands that doing so would likely scupper his chances of reelection."

In announcing the latest deal on social media, Trump said it would be carried out in "carefully structured phases". He wrote: "As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the Stabilisation Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbours."

A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by The Associated Press said all weapons held by the Hamas-run police would be transferred to the US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It is not clear when that would happen, as it depends on other steps. A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels would begin after the committee arrives and international forces are deployed, and would be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal.

Israel currently controls around 60 per cent of Gaza, areas that have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians are in the remaining area, where hundreds of thousands are living in tent camps and ruined neighbourhoods. In a statement on Thursday, an Israeli official said there would be no Israeli withdrawal before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarised. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

A person with knowledge of the situation said Israel was fully involved, but is not a signatory to the deal, which is between Hamas and several countries helping negotiate and guarantee the ceasefire. The person also spoke on condition of anonymity. The deal's guarantors are the US, Turkiye, Egypt and Qatar.

On Thursday, US and Board of Peace officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under White House guidelines, gave an optimistic assessment of the agreement. The board was set up by Trump to oversee the Gaza ceasefire. The officials said Gaza's police force is expected to hand over its arms, but that this does not include most Hamas militants and does not cover heavy weaponry. A Board of Peace official said the surrender of heavy weapons and the dismantling of tunnels and other infrastructure would come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, though that timeline did not appear in the agreement obtained by AP.

A Hamas official and a regional official involved in the process said Hamas and other groups had agreed to "collect and store" arms inside Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian technocratic committee, and that the weapons would not be handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties. The officials, who were not authorised to brief the media, said this would be a gradual process linked to an Israeli withdrawal.

A US official said Israel, which has been deeply sceptical about whether Hamas would give up its weapons or relinquish control of Gaza, had been consulted at every stage of the negotiations. The official said Israel was not being asked to do anything beyond what it had already committed to under the October agreement. A member of the Palestinian technocratic committee told AP on Friday that it was keen to enter Gaza but was concerned Israel would create obstacles. The person said the committee did not expect to enter Gaza for at least two months. The committee welcomed the progress on Friday, but said restoring public institutions and services and rebuilding the territory would be an immense task.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count but says women and children make up around half of those killed. Hamas has now signalled it is prepared to begin disarming under a phased deal, but the conditions attached by both sides and the wider political obstacles mean implementation remains uncertain.

With PTI Inputs

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