GAZA CITY: On Friday, Hamas announced that it has reached an agreement to transfer its weaponry to a Palestinian governing body and to gradually remove Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip. The agreement is intended to carry out the long-delayed second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan mediated by US President Donald Trump. Trump praised the agreement for Hamas’s “complete disarmament” on Thursday, calling it a “major milestone.”
A political source told AFP that “there will be no withdrawal whatsoever” from Israeli forces’ current lines “unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament.” Israel has not yet made a formal statement regarding the announcement.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right National Security Minister, called the deal “unacceptable” and claimed it was “tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organizing for the next massacre. One of the main obstacles to the ceasefire agreement, which has been in effect since October, is the weapons of the Palestinian Islamist organization.
According to the Israeli source, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington this week, but “the issue of Gaza did not come up. On Friday, however, Trump insisted that Israel was happy with the new agreement. “We do have a deal with Israel. At Camp David, Trump told reporters, “Israel is very happy about it.
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