President Trump said on Thursday in a social media post that the Board of Peace, an organization the administration established to oversee a Gaza cease-fire, had reached an agreement for Hamas to begin disarming in the Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas or Israel, and it was not clear whether either had signed off on the plan after years of war and a fragile cease-fire.
“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,” Mr. Trump said. “At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.”
In a call with reporters held shortly after the president posted, a senior Trump adviser involved in the negotiation effort said that the process for disarmament would happen over a matter of weeks.
Officials on the board who spoke to reporters repeatedly emphasized that the process would take time. They said that the Israelis were skeptical that Hamas would give up their arms and relinquish any government involvement in Gaza.
Jonathan Harounoff, who recently stepped down as Israel’s international spokesman at the United Nations, said that the complete disarmament of Hamas had been the “primary obstacle” to reconstruction efforts in Gaza, and that Hamas had broken commitments before.
Israel has been clear, he added, that “full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip” was a “non-negotiable” precondition for any withdrawal process. Mr. Trump, in his social media post, said the agreement would happen in “structured phases,” and that “as disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw.”
Talks involving Hamas, the Board of Peace and Israel had been deadlocked over the next steps in the October cease-fire that was supposed to end the war in Gaza, which began nearly three years ago.
Hamas led an assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people, with some 250 taken hostage, according to the Israeli authorities. The subsequent Israeli military campaign ravaged the Gaza Strip, killing more than 70,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.
Pranav Baskar contributed reporting.
