President Trump said Thursday the U.S.-led Board of Peace has reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and a senior Hamas official confirmed Friday to the BBC that the militant group had accepted the plan's framework — subject to Israel first honoring commitments under the October ceasefire.
If it holds, the framework would clear the largest obstacle to the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire Trump unveiled in September 2025, opening the way to an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, deployment of an International Stabilization Force and reconstruction of the enclave. Israel, though a party to the underlying 20-point plan, has yet to publicly accept the disarmament terms.
What the plan does
The agreement, which the BBC said it has seen, provides for the inventorying and storage of Hamas's remaining heavy weapons under Palestinian supervision rather than a handover to Israel. Smaller armed groups in Gaza would be disarmed first, U.S. officials said, before Hamas begins dismantling what the officials described as its state-like military infrastructure of tunnels, weapons depots and production facilities — a process they acknowledged would take considerably longer.
Authority in Gaza would transfer in phases to a U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza under the principle "one authority, one law, one weapon," CNBC reported from Cairo. A new Palestinian police force would work alongside the International Stabilization Force to secure the territory.
The conditional yes
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Reuters on Friday that the group would not disarm until Israel ended its attacks in Gaza, increased the flow of goods and aid, and pulled back its forces under the October 2025 ceasefire. "We insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement," he said. A senior Hamas official told the BBC that talks were "long and extremely difficult," and that the group had held out for the wording "inventorying and storing weapons" under Palestinian oversight.
Trump, in a Truth Social post Thursday, called the deal "a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government" and thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. A U.S. official told reporters that Washington was "very confident" Israel would adhere to its share of the plan, adding that Trump would be "very disappointed" if Israel did not withdraw once disarmament was completed.
Board and holdouts
Founding members of the Board of Peace include the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, according to the BBC. The United Kingdom, France and China have held off on joining, some citing concerns about international law and the United Nations. The board's website now describes it as a general "international peace-building body," a scope broader than its original Gaza remit.
The counterpoint
Al Jazeera reported Palestinian officials and residents remain distrustful, pointing to what the network said is Israel's failure to adhere to the underlying ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025. At least 1,168 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry cited by the BBC; four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the same period. Israel has also continued to restrict humanitarian aid and expanded its so-called "Yellow Line" further into the Strip, Al Jazeera said, a shift experts told the network may violate the earlier truce. The Times of Israel, cited by the BBC, reported that "an Israeli office" said the disarmament proposal did not meet Israel's demands.
Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News said Cairo would host the U.S., Qatar and Turkey "soon" for further talks on implementation, which U.S. officials described as built on "zero trust" and verification, with neither side advancing until the other has met its obligations.