Israel Must Accept Trump Gaza Peace Deal Before Hamas Implements, Official Says
Key Developments in the Gaza Peace Agreement
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO, July 31 (Reuters) - Implementation of the deal to bring peace to Gaza announced by U.S. President Donald Trump will depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an agreement reached last year, a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Friday.
Trump Announces 'Major Milestone' for Gaza
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump announced a "major milestone" towards ending the war in Gaza, saying his "Board of Peace" had reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups.
The announcement followed months of faltering efforts to keep the ceasefire agreement reached last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on track and it was not immediately clear how strongly either Hamas or Israel stood behind it.
Previous attempts to reach an agreement have foundered amid mutual suspicion and each side's insistence that the other must move first.
Hamas and Israel's Preconditions
On Friday, Hamas issued a statement saying the first step towards an agreement would have to be a commitment by Israel "to stopping the killing and ending its attacks".
While an Israeli official said on Friday that Israel's position remained that "there will be no withdrawal whatsoever of the IDF from the current Yellow Line unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament", referring to a military demarcation line agreed in the ceasefire.
Continued Violence on the Ground
Within hours of Trump's announcement, Gazan medical authorities said one Palestinian was killed and several others had been wounded in at least two Israeli airstrikes and by gunfire in the enclave. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
On the ground, Gazans, still struggling with basic survival after the Israeli military campaign in response to the deadly 2023 Hamas attack on Israel devastated the enclave, remained sceptical, saying little had changed.
Voices from Gaza
Inside a tent encampment in Gaza City, where women were busy filling plastic jerrycans with water, displaced Palestinians urged Trump to compel Israel to abide by the agreement.
"You Trump, you should start it from your end. Ceasefire, stop the assassinations and complete the Israeli army's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," said Samir Ayad, 60.
"We are not seeing any agreement at all, nothing from what he (Trump) is saying," he told Reuters.
'Difficult and Painful' Agreement, Says Hamas
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the group was ready to accept an agreement he said was "difficult and painful".
But he avoided using the term disarmament and said the agreement was a "comprehensive framework" that would depend on Israel implementing the first phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement.
Terms of the Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement
Under that agreement, he said Israel was obliged to end its attacks in Gaza and withdraw its forces to where they stood in October, as well as increase the flow of goods and aid coming into the enclave.
Only then would Hamas agree to hand over its weapons for storage by the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the Palestinian technocratic body set up to run the enclave.
"We insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement," he said.
The 15-Point Roadmap by NCAG
On Friday, NCAG published what it said was the 15-point roadmap, which called on both Israel and Hamas, together with other Palestinian factions, to implement fully the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, in particular the end to military operations in Gaza.
The document outlined steps to allow NCAG to assume responsibility for civil governance in Gaza, and said it would oversee a process to "decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels".
"This process shall be linked to an Israeli withdrawal, in phases, from the areas under its control in Gaza," it said, adding that no weapons would be handed over to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.
No Agreement to Withdraw
NCAG welcomed "the progress announced yesterday regarding the roadmap and the opening of a path toward beginning its implementation". It said it was ready to assume its responsibilities, while Germany, a major donor, said it would do its part to help the agreement.
Political Context and Netanyahu's Position
On Tuesday, Trump met in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an election in October in which he may need the support of right-wing parties that have rejected previous deals in Gaza.
The Israeli source said the issue of Gaza did not come up during Netanyahu's meeting with Trump.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; writing by Nafisa Eltahir and James Mackenzie; Editing by Alex Richardson, Jon Boyle, Philippa Fletcher and Sharon Singleton)
