Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, July 31
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Hamas had agreed to a plan for the “complete disarmament” of armed groups in Gaza, while a senior Hamas official confirmed the group had accepted the proposal.
Trump said the plan would involve the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as the disarmament process was completed.
Israel had not yet issued an official response to the proposal.
The agreement was brokered with the involvement of mediators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, according to US and Board of Peace officials.
The proposal calls for a phased disarmament process overseen by an independent monitoring mechanism, officials said.
An Implementation Verification Committee would monitor compliance, reflecting concerns that neither Hamas nor Israel could independently verify the other’s actions.
Under the plan, Hamas police in Gaza would first surrender their weapons to transitional authorities. The process would then involve the decommissioning of heavy weapons, closure of tunnels and military facilities, and the disbanding of fighters operating them.
The final phase would address personal weapons held by militias and clans under Palestinian law.
Officials cautioned that dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure, including weapons depots and production facilities, could take considerable time.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported that Cairo would host a meeting involving mediators from Egypt, the United States, Qatar and Turkey to reaffirm commitments to the agreement. No date had been announced for the meeting.
Despite the announcement, officials said significant uncertainty and scepticism remained over implementation.
