Hamas said Friday it will not surrender its heavy weapons until Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza, directly contradicting a deal that U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier the same day.
In its first official statement since Trump said the Peace Board had secured a total disarmament agreement, Hamas said any handover of heavy weapons was linked to and conditioned on Israel meeting ten demands.
Those demands include a halt to all Israeli attacks in Gaza, where more than 1,200 people have been killed despite a ceasefire, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Hamas also listed conditions it said the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be unlikely to accept, including recognition of the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Four additional conditions cited were rapid recovery, entry of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, deployment of international protection forces, and dissolution of armed groups Hamas said were sponsored by Israel.
Hamas said Israel’s commitment to ending killings was a fundamental requirement, and that the second phase of the deal depended on Israel fulfilling all provisions of the first phase. The statement referred to Trump’s 20-point plan, presented on September 29, 2025.
Several Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli airstrike hours after Trump’s announcement, according to medical sources. Over nearly ten months of ceasefire, Israel has killed an average of four Palestinians per day in Gaza, including children.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the deal would proceed in carefully structured phases and that once disarmament was complete, Israeli forces would withdraw, with an International Stabilization Force and a new Palestinian police force guaranteeing security. He added that weapons storage would be supervised by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza with no Israeli involvement.
Details of the agreement remain ambiguous, and doubts persist about what both parties have actually agreed to and on what timeline.
