Israel must approve disarmament agreement before Hamas will implement, says Hamas official

A senior Hamas official stated that a peace deal announced by Donald Trump will depend on Israel meeting its commitments under a previous agreement, including withdrawing forces from Gaza.

​Implementation of the deal to bring ​peace to Gaza announced ‌by U.S. ​President Donald Trump will depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an agreement reached last year, a ‌senior Hamas official told Reuters on Friday. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump announced a "major milestone" towards ending the war in Gaza, saying his "Board ‌of Peace" had reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and ‌other armed groups. Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the agreement was a "comprehensive framework" that went beyond the issue of disarmament and would depend on Israel implementing the ⁠first phase ​of an agreement ⁠hammered out last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Under that agreement, he said ⁠Israel was obliged to end its attacks in Gaza and withdraw its forces to ​where they stood in October, as well as increase the flow of goods ⁠and aid coming into the enclave. Only then would Hamas agree to hand over its weapons ⁠to ​the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the technocratic body set up to run the enclave.

"We insisted to the mediators that Israel must ⁠abide by the agreement," he said. On Thursday, an Israeli official said Israel would not ⁠agree to withdraw ⁠behind the so-called Yellow Line before Hamas is disarmed and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized.