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.
Here are some of the challenges the deal would face on the ground in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump announced the “complete disarmament” of Hamas, calling it a critical step towards a new Palestinian government in Gaza.
He said Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza “as disarmament is completed”.
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.
“Hamas has now accepted a text that fully complies with Trump’s plan for Gaza, one that the Board of Peace endorsed, that Trump himself publicly welcomed, and that (Benjamin) Netanyahu rejected outright,” said Muhammad Shehada, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
“As long as Israel maintains that position, there can be absolutely no progress,” he added.
Israel has so far not commented on Hamas’s decision.
But hours before Hamas announced the agreement, an Israeli political source told reporters that Gaza was not even discussed during Trump and Netanyahu’s meeting this week in Washington.
“Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and full demilitarisation of the Strip as a precondition for any process,” the source said.
“There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the yellow line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is demilitarised,” they added, referring to a demarcation between the area under Hamas control and that held by the Israeli army.
Hamas 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.
