Hamas says it has agreed to a deal aimed at fully ending Israel’s war on Gaza, including making provisions to disarm and surrender its weapons in stages. Under the agreement, Israel must withdraw its forces over a period of time.
The agreement was announced late on Thursday by US President Donald Trump, after the US-led Board of Peace and International Stabilization Force for Gaza announced that mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and the US had finalised a roadmap for this next phase of the ceasefire.
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Egypt is expected to host representatives from the US, Qatar and Turkiye for further talks aimed at ensuring compliance during this second phase.
But Israel has not publicly agreed to the latest proposal and Hamas has said it will not implement any part of the deal unless Israeli forces fulfil their own obligations to withdraw from Gaza under the agreement.
The announcement comes against a backdrop of deep Palestinian distrust of Israel due to its failure to adhere to previous agreements.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire supposedly came into effect on October 10, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians. Israel has also continued to restrict humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and expanded its so-called “Yellow Line” further into the Strip, which experts say may violate the pre-existing ceasefire arrangement underpinned by an initial 20-point peace plan announced by Trump last year.
Questions remain over whether all Palestinian armed groups apart from Hamas would adhere to the agreement and whether Israeli forces would fully withdraw from Gaza.
With Palestinians continuing to suffer daily Israeli attacks, repeated displacement and severe shortages of food, medicine and shelter, the announcement has been met with both hope and scepticism.
Here is what we know.
What has been announced?
“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late on Thursday.
“This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people. At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.”
Trump said the agreement would be implemented in stages, with Israeli forces withdrawing as the disarmament process advances. “Agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases. As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilisation Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbours,” he wrote.
“Under this agreement, Gaza will finally be in the hands of a new Palestinian government that serves its PEOPLE.”
The Board of Peace later released a joint statement with the mediating countries.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating delegation, told Al Jazeera that the group’s implementation of the agreement will be dependent on Israel fulfilling its commitments.
“Hamas will not implement any step of the Gaza peace deal if the Israeli occupation forces do not fulfil their obligations under the agreement,” he said. “Israel will not interfere in the disarmament issue and the national committee is the one that will carry out this task.”
Israel has not commented on the agreement.
How would disarmament work?
Here’s what the plan outlines:
- A schedule for an inventory of Hamas’s weapons must be prepared within 14 days, with extensions permitted only if agreed by an international verification commission and all parties involved.
- A Palestinian National Committee will oversee and execute the inventory and storage process and will be the sole entity to hold, store or control weapons in Gaza, with participation from Palestinian factions.
- No weapons will be transferred or handed over to Israel or any other non-Palestinian parties.
- An international verification commission, an International Stabilization Force, and a new Palestinian police force will oversee disarmament as Israeli troops incrementally withdraw to designated lines in step with verification progress.
- The inventory and storage will initially target heavy weaponry, military production sites, weapons depots and the extensive tunnel network.
- The process is contingent on several steps, including the entry of the National Committee and the deployment of the international force.
- Disarmament phases will be directly tied to Israel’s gradual withdrawal from areas it controls and to a broader implementation of the peace plan.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said Hamas had negotiated via Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators. “They were dealing with Hamas directly and Hamas agreed to sign onto this agreement and it means that there will be a disarmament in Gaza; that was seen to be one of the big sticking points, but Hamas has agreed to that.
“That means handing over their weapons to the International Stabilisation Force, it means that zones will be identified and they will be demilitarised and then they move on to the next phase once that has been verified by an independent body.”
Fisher reported that the international force will train a new Palestinian police service, position itself between Palestinians and withdrawing Israeli troops and oversee the decommissioning process.
“The US and Board of Peace officials believe that this is a fresh start for Gaza, that this can create something new and something different.
“They understand that the whole process is going to take some time … the demilitarisation part, they said, could take between 200 and 300 days.
“The International Stabilization Force will be overseen by an American general, but they say they already have commitments from a number of nations for a force totalling somewhere in the region of 5,000.”
The process is to begin 14 days after all parties formally accept the agreement. “There’s no confirmation that the Israelis have signed up yet, but we are told that Donald Trump would be very disappointed if Israel backs out of the deal,” Fisher added.
Who would govern Gaza?
The roadmap would transfer Gaza’s day-to-day administration to a technocratic Palestinian committee operating under the oversight of the Board of Peace.
The proposed structure includes:
- Gaza Board of Peace: A US-led international body, chaired for life by Trump, responsible for high-level strategy, post-war stabilisation and reconstruction funding.
- Founding Executive Board: A seven-member group led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair which will set the agenda and implement the board’s mission. Other expected members include Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and World Bank President Ajay Banga.
- Gaza Executive Board: An operational body responsible for directing reconstruction and coordinating with regional diplomats.
- National Committee for the Administration of Gaza: A technocratic Palestinian committee responsible for civil administration inside Gaza, without Hamas’ participation.
- International Stabilization Force: A multinational force intended to maintain security and support the new Palestinian police. Indonesia has been mentioned as a possible contributor, while Morocco has pledged training support.
- New Gaza Police Force: A locally recruited force expected to assume control of areas vacated by Hamas and Israeli troops. Questions remain about how personnel would be recruited and selected.
The Board of Peace’s high representative, Nikolay Mladenov, said the Palestinian administrative committee and the Palestinian people required “the political and practical backing to take charge of their own future”.
What is the Board of Peace?
The Board of Peace was established by Trump and is led by the US government. It is named in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 as the body tasked with overseeing the Gaza peace plan.
However, the board’s powers, composition and wider ambitions have caused concern among Palestinians and several governments.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said the Board of Peace is supposed to oversee the enforcement of the Gaza ceasefire and reconstruction, and that it will be in charge of the bodies responsible for implementation. However, she added that opinions have diverged on the board and its mission.
After invitations in January, France, Spain, Norway and others cited concerns about the board’s charter, which they said suggested it could extend its reach beyond Gaza.
The fears are that “it’s an attempt to replace the United Nations”, Odeh reported. “Donald Trump, who has indicated he intends to remain chairman for life… even if not still US President. Trump has stated that the BoP could potentially replace the UN.”
Several European countries declined to join the board because of concerns over its mandate, while Israel has been included in the process despite being “charged with genocide in Gaza and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for its prime minister”.
Odeh added that the level of US control had also raised questions about whether the process would circumvent international law and Palestinian rights. “The main concern at the onset was that the Board of Peace would replace the United Nations; this is something not only Palestinians, but much of the international community object to.
“There is serious concern that international law is being side-stepped, given the nature of this situation – that Israel remains the occupying power and that Palestinians are being occupied in contravention of international law.”
Will Israel honour the agreement?
Israel has not confirmed that it has accepted the new roadmap. Since the October “ceasefire” started last year, continuing Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians, while Israel has continued to restrict humanitarian aid and expand its military presence inside Gaza. This has left many Palestinians sceptical that the agreement can succeed.
The roadmap also ties Hamas’s disarmament directly to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, meaning each stage depends on the other. Any attempt by Israel to delay its withdrawal or impose new conditions could therefore bring the process to a halt.
Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco, Stephen Zunes, told Al Jazeera that Israel had repeatedly demonstrated it could reinterpret agreements because it expected continued political backing from the United States.
While “Israel might agree in theory to the terms of this agreement”, Zunes said, it would likely begin “reinterpreting it, or even violating it, with the understanding that the US is not going to push them, or that Washington will suddenly agree with their reinterpretation, or even blame the Palestinian side, as they have done so many times before”.
“I think that is really the weakest part of this agreement, that is: Will Israel live up to the agreement, and will the US enforce this deal?”
The proposal also comes ahead of Israel’s general election in October. Several far-right parties which have helped sustain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition have campaigned against any withdrawal from Gaza. They have instead called for Israeli settlements to be established in the territory, increasing political pressure on the government to keep further entrenching its military occupation of the enclave, analysts say.
Could other armed groups derail the deal?
Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera the agreement was “very significant”, but cautioned that it was too early to describe it as a breakthrough.
“I think there will be a lot of scepticism that Hamas is not handing over all of its weapons, or that it is keeping some of its small arms,” Weinstein said.
“There’s going to be various groups, armed militias operating in Gaza that are not part of Hamas, and they may wish to be spoilers to this agreement, and of course there are going to be Israeli politicians, who are hardliners and don’t want to see a withdrawal from Gaza, and they’ll be making these claims that Hamas is holding onto weapons that may or may not be true,” he added. “Verification is going to be important.”
Zunes added that Hamas has few alternatives after more than two-and-a-half years of Israeli attacks on Gaza. “Hamas’s policies have been a disaster for the Palestinian people, particularly the people in Gaza. Hamas doesn’t have the support of the majority of people in the Strip,” he said.
“If this deal leads to a full Israeli withdrawal, Hamas will get the face-saving it wants and can possibly declare victory.”
How sceptical should we be that this agreement will work?
Rami Khouri, fellow at the American University of Beirut, warned against “accepting the deal as a great breakthrough”.
“It is impossible to predict anything Trump says on social media, because his track record of keeping his actions in line with his words is very poor.
“Trump is basically desperate for a political win, anywhere in the world, and this deal is something he thinks will help him,” he told Al Jazeera.
Antony Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory, told Al Jazeera the proposed cessation of hostilities was necessary but that major questions remained over who would control Gaza and whose interests reconstruction would serve.
“Scepticism isn’t just necessary, it is essential when it comes to this deal,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera. “The Board of Peace wasn’t just a creation of Trump, but also Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
“And Kushner’s vision, if you can call it that, for Gaza was basically disaster capitalism, tied to a reality where there are high-rises; the Palestinians are probably working in sweatshops for outside companies,” he said.
Like many previous announcements, the political announcements bear little resemblance to conditions on the ground for Palestinians in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s reporters in the enclave. This leaves many Palestinians fearing for the future.
Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili, reporting from Gaza City, said: “The reality is, last October’s ceasefire hasn’t translated to any progress on the ground here in Gaza, where Palestinians continue to live under the threat of Israeli attacks.
“Multiple casualties are reported from across different parts of the Strip on a daily basis. For ordinary Palestinians, the question is more urgent: When will they feel the impact of these announcements by Trump and others?
“Palestinians want to see an end to the violence. They want to be able to move freely and to return to their homes, most of which have been destroyed.
“They want to have a sense that this war is genuinely coming to an end.”
