Trump will be ‘very disappointed’ if Israel blocks advancement of his Gaza plan — US official
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The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Senior Hamas official Razi Hamad tells Al Jazeera — following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that an agreement had been reached on the second phase of the ceasefire — that the storage of Hamas’s weapons is contingent on a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the dismantling of militias backed by Israel.
Hamad says in the interview: “We will not take a single step unless we are certain that Israel will also carry out its commitments.”
He adds that the weapons would be placed in storage only after the commitments of the first phase of the ceasefire are fulfilled — apparently referring to the entry of humanitarian aid — and after the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza enters the Strip.
An official from Trump’s Board of Peace said the only withdrawal Israel has to make in the first stage is to the original Yellow Line demarcated in Gaza, and that future withdrawals would happen only after each are of Gaza is demilitarized.
Asked about the role of the Palestinian Authority in the postwar management of Gaza, a senior US official briefing reporters says the PA should focus on carrying out reforms in the West Bank so that it can one day maybe be ready to govern the Strip.
The US official acknowledges the liaison office that was set up to coordinate between the Board of Peace and the PA.
“But at the end of the day, they have to focus on reforms. They have to show that they can run the West Bank and then obviously we can consider them coming into Gaza,” he says.
“The PA has not been effective in the West Bank, and Hamas has been much worse in Gaza, so we’re going to try something new,” the senior US official adds, making no mention of the long list of punitive actions taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that have brought the PA to the brink of collapse and have significantly hobbled its ability to carry out reforms even if it wants to.
Pouring further salt in the wound, the US official confirms that one of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s top rivals, ousted Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, has been among the people that Washington has consulted about the postwar management of the Strip.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been in constant contact with Dahlan over the past year regarding Gaza.
“Mohammed Dahlan is one of the people we speak to. He gives us a lot of good knowledge about Gaza and the situation,” the US official says.
Adopting a softer tone toward the PA, the senior Board of Peace official on the call stresses that there is full transparency with the PA.
The official also notes that the NCAG is only meant to be a transitional authority in Gaza and that if the disarmament proposal is upheld, it will “reignite the prospect for a political horizon for the Palestinian people, which comes when the PA is reformed and it’s able to take over.”
Iran tried to convince Hamas not to accept the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal, but ultimately failed in that effort, a senior US official tells reporters during a briefing call.
“Iran would have liked Hamas not to do the deal but… Iran abandoned Hamas a while ago. They can’t afford to to keep them going, and I think the Hamas guys realize that they have to do what’s best for for themselves and and for the people,” the US official says, adding that the disarmament proposal’s offer of amnesty to Hamas members who agree to give up their weapons and adhere to Trump’s 20-point plan was a key selling point for the terror group.
“Iran did try to convince them not to do this deal, but ultimately we were able to overcome that,” the US official adds, confirming a report from the Axios news site, which said that officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had urged a Hamas delegation attending the funeral of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei not to rush into accepting the Board of Peace proposal.
The Board of Peace disarmament proposal approved by Hamas will see the terror group first hand over the weapons held by its police force to the NCAG, an official on the panel tells reporters in a briefing call.
That will be followed by the decommissioning of heavy weapons, arms depots and tunnels that exist in Gaza.
Personal weapons left in Gaza will be handed over last, in line with existing Palestinian Authority law, which allows for individuals to carry a gun under strict conditions if properly registered.
IDF-backed militias and armed clans in Gaza will also be required to hand over their weapons as part of this process, the Board of Peace official says.
While weapons will be handed over to the NCAG, the ISF will help facilitate the decommissioning, and its leadership has already been studying ways to ensure the handover can proceed safely.
The framework will be advanced gradually throughout the Strip and be linked strictly to IDF withdrawals — both of which will be monitored by the International Verification Committee.
The process will be based on the principle of “one authority, one law and one weapon principle…. so that we don’t end up in a situation where you have NCAG control during the day and militants coming out during the night to disrupt this process,” the Board of Peace official says.
A “Social Peace Agreement” will also be signed by all factions in Gaza in order to prevent a scenario where one group turns on another once weapons have been turned over, the official said.
Little information is provided during the briefing call regarding the reconstruction of Gaza, beyond that it will be supervised by the Board of Peace and the NCAG “in accordance with international standards,” the Board of Peace official says.
A different Board of Peace official tells The Times of Israel that reconstruction will move ahead in areas that have been decommissioned, with the first pilot housing project set to begin on…
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