Negotiations between the Board of Peace, Hamas, and three mediating countries—Egypt, Qatar and Turkey—led to a signed agreement yesterday in Egypt on the “complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” reported a source to the Times of Israel. Hamas, along with anti-Hamas militia groups armed by Israel, are to hand over their weapons to the panel of Palestinian technocrats chosen by the Board of Peace. Entitled the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the panel, with the help of the Palestinian police, is to both collect the weaponry and gradually replace Hamas as the governing body over the next year. They are to take over areas as they are demilitarized, with the Rafah area prioritized for a pilot housing project—though no sooner than early next year.
Amnesty is to be granted to those who comply with the disarmament as they turn in their arms. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) is to immediately return to the Yellow Line, the one that they had agreed to last year. (Since then, they have, under orders from Prime Minister Netanyahu, and in direct violation of the previous agreement, expanded their control over Gaza from about 53% to over 65%, with the declared aim of seizing areas totaling up to 70%.) Over the last year, Gazans have been squeezed into smaller and smaller areas, with most in tent encampments, facing continual strikes and deprived of the promised amounts of food and medicine. Israel is also supposed to hold to the agreement on no attacks—that is, they can’t spit on the agreement by claiming an emergency exception multiple times a week, based on their need to pre-empt an imminent threat.
Hamas stated: “Hamas and the Palestinian factions have dealt responsibly and positively with the negotiation process and the mediators’ proposals to complete the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement. This was done with a national consensus among the Palestinian factions... The occupation’s commitment to halting the killing and ending its aggression is the fundamental prerequisite and the first step towards its implementation. This includes establishing a framework and timetable for what has been agreed upon. It is emphasized that the implementation of the second phase of the agreement is contingent upon the occupation’s commitment to implementing all the provisions of the first phase.”
Those provisions include “a complete cessation of all forms of aggression, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, achieving recovery, the entry of the Administrative Committee, the deployment of international protection forces, the disbanding of armed gangs and militias formed by the occupation, reconstruction, guaranteeing the right to self-determination, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and the protection of citizens’ rights.” Israel stated yesterday, contrary to what they signed last year, that they will not withdraw until after Hamas is fully disarmed—staking out their position to destroy yesterday’s agreement.
Curiously, an Arab diplomat familiar with the Board of Peace’s negotiations told TOI that the mediators argued Hamas into making the agreement, telling them that, regardless, Netanyahu’s government was unlikely to accept the Board of Peace proposal, so at the very least, it would “put the ball in Israel’s court.”
What happens now is that a 14-day period is triggered during which both sides address a specific timeline for implementing each reciprocal step, to be carried out over 200–350 days. If that step is accomplished, the Board of Peace is said to begin holding Israel’s feet to the fire on its October 2025 commitments.
