Trump Announces Hamas Disarmament Deal. Israel and Hamas Are Already Reading It Differently

President Trump announced Thursday that Hamas has agreed to a plan for the "COMPLETE DISARMAMENT" of itself and all other armed groups in Gaza, calling it a "HISTORIC agreement" negotiated through his international Board of Peace. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the deal marks "a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY."

No militant group in Gaza has ever agreed to disarm, according to CBS News.

But the details, and who's actually agreed to what, are murkier than Trump's post suggests.

What Hamas is actually saying

A senior Hamas official told CBS News' partner network BBC News that Hamas has agreed to the disarmament plan. Ghazi Hamad, another senior Hamas official, told Agence France-Presse the agreement includes a clear condition: Israel must implement its own obligations first. "If Israel does not implement the agreement, neither will we," Hamad said.

A Hamas source told Reuters, in reporting picked up by CBC, that the actual draft stipulates heavy weapons would be stored under the control of a Palestinian administration, not handed over to Israel, and that Hamas will not act on disarmament before Israeli forces withdraw. CBC's headline framing captured this directly: "No disarmament until Israel leaves Gaza, Hamas negotiator tells Al Jazeera."

So where Trump's announcement reads as Hamas agreeing to disarm, Hamas's own officials are describing a sequenced, conditional draft where Israeli withdrawal comes first, or at least simultaneously. Those are not the same thing.

Israel hasn't signed on

An Israeli official told Reuters, in reporting cited by SBS News, that Israel had rejected an earlier version of the proposal. "Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process," the official said. "The 15-point document in question does not provide a satisfactory response to these demands and Israel conveyed its objections."

The Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to CBC's request for comment on Trump's announcement. As of Thursday, Israel had issued no formal public statement embracing the deal. Trump announced a historic agreement on disarmament, but the country that would actually have to withdraw its forces and accept the security arrangement hasn't said yes.

What the Board of Peace says

The Board of Peace, the international body Trump set up to oversee implementation of his 20-point Gaza plan, confirmed in a statement on X that Hamas had "officially committed to an actionable plan for relinquishing all its weapons," to be followed by Israeli withdrawal. The board said it has been working with the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and will "soon begin a phased transition toward full authority," backed by an International Stabilization Force.

U.S. and Board of Peace officials told reporters on a call Thursday that the process took longer than they'd hoped, and that this agreement essentially converts the original 20-point framework into a roadmap that will be refined over the coming weeks, according to CBS News. This is a framework for future negotiations, not a signed, operational disarmament timeline.

The history here matters

Trump's original 20-point plan, offered last fall, called for hostage releases, a ceasefire, expanded aid, and an eventual Israeli withdrawal as Hamas disarmed, with an International Stabilization Force providing security in the interim. The first phase, hostage releases and the ceasefire, was implemented in October. Everything since has been stuck on the harder second phase: getting Hamas to actually give up its weapons and getting Israel to actually pull back its military. Israeli strikes and militant attacks have continued in the months since, according to CBS News.

More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's military campaign began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, a figure that cannot be independently verified but is widely cited by international outlets. The war started with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.

The reasonable skepticism, and the reasonable hope

Critics of Trump's announcement have a fair point: declaring a "historic" deal before the other party to the conflict, Israel, has publicly agreed to anything is premature. SBS News quoted unnamed experts warning the announcement should be taken "with a grain of salt" given how little operational detail was provided. Foreign Minister Penny Wong of Australia said she wants to see actual implementation and is "looking forward to more details," a fairly diplomatic way of saying the same thing.

At the same time, getting Hamas's own officials on record saying they've agreed to a disarmament framework, even a conditional one, is significant. This is the furthest the process has moved on the hardest unresolved issue from last fall's ceasefire. Whether it produces an actual timetable for handing over weapons, or collapses like earlier attempts to finalize phase two, depends entirely on whether Israel and Hamas can agree on the sequencing: who moves first, Israeli withdrawal or Hamas disarmament.

Board of Peace officials told Reuters the specific conditions required for the deal to proceed would be published soon. Until that document exists and both Israel and Hamas confirm they've accepted the same terms, this remains a framework for future negotiation, not a finished peace deal.