Hamas Says It Will Disarm If Israel Withdraws and Halts Strikes, but Israel Has Not Confirmed Gaza Deal
Trump declared a Gaza ceasefire breakthrough including Hamas disarmament, but Israel has not accepted the deal.
Trump declared a 'great breakthrough' on Gaza, saying Hamas had agreed to 'complete disarmament' as part of a peace plan, and claiming 'Israel is very happy' with the framework — though he declined to clarify whether an Israeli military withdrawal or Hamas disarmament would come first. Hamas has since publicly confirmed it will begin disarming as part of the deal, but made clear this is conditional on Israel halting its strikes and fully withdrawing from Gaza. That conditionality keeps the sequencing question — one of the central sticking points in negotiations — unresolved. Israel has still not formally confirmed or accepted the deal. The claim of Israeli enthusiasm was quickly complicated by a far-right Israeli minister publicly rejecting the approach, declaring the 'only solution' is 'encouraging emigration and destroying Hamas' — a position at odds with the ceasefire and disarmament framework Trump described. Trump provided no timeline or specific mechanism for the disarmament process. The Gaza conflict, now extending well past a year, has seen multiple rounds of fragile ceasefire negotiations, and Hamas disarmament has historically been a core Israeli demand that Hamas previously refused outright.
Why it matters
Any lasting resolution to the Gaza conflict affecting millions of civilians hinges on whether all parties actually agree to the same terms — and right now, the Israeli government has not confirmed the deal Trump described.
What's next
Watch for an official Israeli government response confirming or rejecting the disarmament and withdrawal framework Trump described.
Key facts
- Trump publicly stated Hamas has agreed to 'complete disarmament' as part of a Gaza peace plan
- Israel has not accepted or confirmed the deal as of the reporting
- Trump said 'Israel is very happy' with the plan but refused to say whether Israeli withdrawal or Hamas disarmament comes first
- An Israeli far-right minister stated the 'only solution' is 'encouraging emigration and destroying Hamas', contradicting the ceasefire framing
- The sequencing of withdrawal versus disarmament remains one of the central unresolved issues in negotiations
Bias & framing notes
Both sources are from The Guardian. The first source, a live blog, presented Trump's comments as a positive development ('great breakthrough') with less immediate contradiction, while the second source more directly flagged the gap between Trump's claim and Israel's actual position. Neither source includes a Hamas statement on the claimed disarmament agreement, which is a notable gap given that Hamas's position is central to whether any deal exists.
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