Hamas, Israel to hold firm in Gaza unless other side moves first

Sara Gharaibeh and Galit Altstein, Bloomberg News on Jul 31, 2026

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Hamas said it agreed to disarm as long as Israel withdraws from Gaza and agrees to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, conditions that dent the prospects of a revival in the protracted peace process.

The militant group will give up heavy weaponry if Israel accepts those requirements, alongside the deployment of an administrative committee in Gaza and international security forces, it said in a statement on Telegram on Friday.

Israel won’t withdraw from Gaza unless Hamas disarms first, according to an Israeli official familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. That suggests the two sides have yet to agree on a way forward, despite the U.S.-led Board of Peace laying out a roadmap toward peace and reconstruction in the Palestinian territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump said late Thursday an agreement had been reached for Hamas to disarm, calling it a “monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.”

The timetable for completing the implementation of Trump’s plan for Gaza — agreed in October of last year — should be prepared within 14 days after all parties approve the plan, The Board of Peace said in posts on X.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has yet to comment.

Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as the high representative for Gaza for the Board of Peace, said in a post on X that “withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning.“

The various statements suggest a breakthrough in the months-long deadlock in Gaza isn’t imminent. Israel and Hamas have controlled about half the territory each since the Trump-championed peace agreement was signed in October, ending two years of war set off by the militant group’s October 2023 assault on Israeli communities and military bases, which left some 1,200 Israelis dead. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other Western nations.

Trump said Israel would withdraw from the territory after Hamas’s disarmament is completed. An International Stabilization Force would then work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza’s safety, he added.

The timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza still must be finalized, according to U.S. and Board of Peace officials. They said the International Stabilization Force would also support the process to decommission weapons, and that the first arms to be transferred would be those belonging to the police in Gaza.

They added that there would be a verifying process for each step of the plan.

Under Trump’s 20-point plan, the remaining Hamas hostages — both living and dead — were released from Gaza, clearing the way for a change of governance and reconstruction of the territory. Gaza was devastated by the Israel-Hamas war, with the bulk of urban areas reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardments and an estimated 70,000 Palestinians killed.

Any resolution could also have implications for the wider conflict in the Middle East. Hamas is backed by Iran, which came under attack from the U.S. and Israel in February.

The fighting escalated into a war that saw the Islamic Republic launch attacks on multiple countries in the region, including Israel.

—With assistance from John Harney.