WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas, calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza.

 

Trump’s announcement came after sources familiar with the ongoing talks with mediators in Cairo told AFP that the Palestinian Islamist movement was progressing towards a deal involving the decommissioning of its weapons.

 

“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying disarmament would take place in “carefully structured phases.”

 

“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors,” he added, also thanking mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.

 

Hamas said on Friday it agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

 

The text of the deal has not been released publicly, and there was no immediate statement from Israel.

 

Cairo is set to host a meeting "soon" of the Gaza truce mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Turkey, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported early Friday.

 

The news outlet, which is linked to the state intelligence services that manage Gaza negotiations, did not specify when the meeting would take place, but said that it would discuss implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, a roadmap for which Hamas and Palestinian factions have agreed to.

 

Hamas officials told AFP a committee established by Trump's Board of Peace to govern Gaza would oversee the process of storing the Islamist movement's weapons.

 

The group said it expected mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel complied with the deal's terms, which included Israel's "gradual withdrawal" from Gaza.

 

Ghazi Hamad, a member of the group's negotiating team, said the movement was making "concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement".

 

"The agreement contains a clear provision stating that Israel must commit to and implement its obligations. If Israel does not implement the agreement, neither will we," Hamad said.

 

A diplomatic source told AFP before the deal's announcement that the plan would create "a process for the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities".

 

An October ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Hamas, but it has not halted the violence in Gaza. Efforts to secure a lasting agreement to end the war have stalled.

 

Israel has continued carrying out near-daily air and artillery strikes across the territory, more than 60 percent of which it controls, since the fragile truce came into effect.

 

At least 1,214 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

 

Israeli strikes on Thursday killed at least four people, including two children, health officials said.

 

Tens of thousands of people in Gaza still live in tents, after nearly three years of Israeli airstrikes destroyed much of the Palestinian territory's standing structures.

 

Hamas has accused Israel of repeated ceasefire violations, including airstrikes, firing on civilians and advancing the so-called Yellow Line, an informal boundary separating areas under Israeli military control from those under Hamas authority.