GAZA CITY: Hamas said Friday it had agreed to a deal announced by US President Donald Trump to end the war with Israel, that includes it handing over its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel did not immediately comment on the announcement, but shortly beforehand an Israeli political source had told AFP the proposed agreement did not “satisfactorily” address Israeli demands for the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
The source also said that “the issue of Gaza did not come up at all” in this week’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Trump in Washington.
The Palestinian Islamist group’s weapons have been one of the key sticking points in implementing a ceasefire deal in place since October, but Trump announced late Thursday an agreement for Hamas’s “complete disarmament,” calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza.
Hamas officials told AFP that a committee established by Trump’s Board of Peace to govern Gaza would oversee the process of storing the Islamist movement’s weapons.
