US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the Gaza Peace Council has reached a historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed organisations in the Strip. He said that IDF forces will withdraw from the Strip upon completion of the step. "This is a monumental step forward toward sustainable peace and security," he claimed.
“The agreement was a critical step towards Gaza being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the so-called Board of Peace, Trump said. "At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks," he added.
According to reports, a Hamas official described the deal as a draft. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that the Board of Peace’s 15-point disarmament proposal did not meet Israeli demands for Gaza’s complete demilitarisation.
Disarmament
As the demobilisation process is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will work with a new Palestinian police force that will take responsibility for maintaining the security of citizens - and neighbours.
According to the roadmap discussed in Cairo, Hamas is supposed to hand over all its weapons - light and heavy - as well as give up its tunnels, weapons depots and production facilities. The delivery of the weapons is supposed to begin within a few weeks, and they will be transferred to international forces, stored in designated facilities and decommissioned. The depots are supposed to be guarded by a multinational force, and at the end of the process only the technocratic Palestinian committee that will run the Strip will have authority over the weapons.
“The first weapons to be collected will be those of the police, and then the dismantling of heavy weapons will begin. All military activity in Gaza will have to cease as part of the implementation of the plan. The process of rebuilding Gaza will be supervised by the Peace Council, and the Israeli withdrawal will be carried out in stages according to a timetable that will be formulated,” Reuters quoted a US official who is aware of the contents of the plan.
It also includes the elimination of tunnels, arms
stockpiles and weapons production facilities, a diplomat
involved in the talks said, adding that by the end of the
process there would be no remaining militant infrastructure in
Gaza.
