If Hamas disarmament plan holds, it could mark first credible step to ending Gaza warpublished at 06:34 BST

06:34 BST

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Cairo

Image source, Reuters

After months of marathon talks, Hamas has, for the first time, accepted a framework of the Board of Peace's plan to completely disarm in Gaza.

The plan provides for the inventorying and storage of its remaining heavy weapons under Palestinian supervision, potentially removing the most significant obstacle to advancing the Trump-backed peace initiative for Gaza.

The move comes soon after Hamas concluded leadership elections that brought Gaza-based leader Khalil al-Hayya to the head of the movement.

Palestinian officials involved in the talks believe the new leadership was prepared to take what they describe as the most consequential political decision in Hamas's history, driven by the devastating humanitarian conditions facing more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.

It remains too early to judge whether the agreement will be fully implemented or whether all parties will honour their commitments.

But if it holds, it could mark the first credible step towards ending a war that has lasted for nearly three years and opening the way for a broader political process.

Read the full analysis here.

Hamas disarmament was a key sticking point as ceasefire stalledpublished at 06:04 BST

06:04 BST

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

In recent months, the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal has stalled – with the disarmament of Hamas a key sticking point.

But after recent intense talks between Hamas and regional mediators, President Trump wrote on social media that “a monumental step toward lasting peace and security” had been taken.

Under a new proposal sent to Washington – and seen by the BBC – Hamas promises an inventory of weapons, military production sites and tunnels.

Its arms are to be stored and kept under control of the new Palestinian administration; they cannot be transferred to Israel. The process is linked to “a phased Israeli withdrawal," according to the proposal.

A separate plan is laid out on how Gaza’s new technocratic government should deal with Hamas public servants.

There’s been no official response from Israel – which remains highly sceptical about Hamas’s willingness to disarm.

Here's what you need to know to catch up on this breaking story:

• US President Donald Trump says the Board of Peace reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza
• Hamas has agreed to the plan, a senior Hamas official has told the BBC
• Israeli soldiers will also withdraw from the Gaza Strip "as disarmament is completed", according to Trump
• We are still waiting for an official response from Israel, which has not commented
• There will be multiple phases to the disarmament process with progress to be independently monitored, US and Board of Peace officials said in a call with reporters
• The deal was brokered with the help of meditators from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey
• While some negotiators are hailing the agreement as a breakthrough, caution and scepticism remains on all sides

Image source, EPA

Cairo will host a meeting between the Gaza peace plan mediators "soon", state-linked Al-Qahera News reported early Friday. The mediators include Egypt, the US, Qatar and Turkey.

The news outlet spoke to an "informed Egyptian source" who did not specify when the meeting would take place "to confirm the commitment of all parties concerned to implementing the terms of the agreement."

Speaking to reporters earlier today, a US and Board of Peace officials said an "implementation verification committee" will monitor progress on disarmament.

The third-party committee will independently examine how conditions are progressing – noting difficulties of Hamas and Israel monitoring each other.

The official acknowledges that it could take longer to ensure that Hamas has disarmed, saying that its army, tunnels and production facilities are more like those of a state than a militant group.

US and Board of Peace officials have given reporters a rough outline of how the disarmament process could work.

In a phone call they said first, Hamas's police in Gaza will surrender their weapons to the transitional authorities.

Then, there will be a "process of decommissioning" heavy weapons, which would including shutting down tunnels and depots as well as standing down the fighters who are operating these facilities.

This would be a "very technical process" where one of the key questions would be how to store the collected weapons safely.

Finally, all personal weapons in Gaza would have to be "dealt with" under Palestinian law.

Officials said militias and clans would also have to decommission their weapons as part of this process.

In the six months since Israel and Hamas were meant to begin phase two of the ceasefire deal, little progress has been made. At least 1,168 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect last October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Gaza over the same period.

Hamas led an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a massive military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,290 people have been killed, including 21,280 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC), issued arrest warrants over alleged war crimes for Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and as well as the military commander of Hamas, Mohammed Deif. Israel has said Deif was killed in an air strike.

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the ICC's decision as "antisemitic", while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant had set an "important historical precedent".

A UN commission of inquiry said in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false".

Image source, Getty Images

We have heard from one of the most senior people involved in the region's diplomacy – the group's director-general and high representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov.

In a post on X, he writes: "Today, agreement has been reached on the decommissioning of weapons and civilian transition in Gaza. It took months of very difficult negotiations to get here.

"There were several points when I did not believe we would make it..." he continues. "What the agreement says matters. What happens next matters even more. Implementation and verification have to be real. Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning.

Mladenov, a former Bulgarian foreign minister, has held multiple regional high-level roles in the United Nations – including as the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East Peace process.

"Ahead of us is a Gaza rebuilt, governed by Palestinians and at peace with Israel an a political horizon to a meaningful resolution the Israeli Palestinian conflict. That is the work now."

Image source, Reuters

How Israeli withdrawal would work remains unclearpublished at 04:15 BST

04:15 BST

Shaimaa Khalil
North America correspondent

There are many unanswered operational questions, too: exactly how an Israeli withdrawal would work, who are they handing over to, whether it would include the buffer zone known as the Yellow Line, who would ultimately take custody of Hamas's weapons, and how the verification mechanism would operate in practice are all issues that will determine whether this agreement moves beyond paper.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government raised these objections recently to Board of Peace envoy Tony Blair, without specifying its issues with the disarmament proposal, the Times of Israel reported, citing a statement from an Israeli official.

“There will be no IDF withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is fully demilitarized,” the Israeli official added.

Image source, Reuters

Major political questions remainpublished at 03:46 BST

03:46 BST

Shaimaa Khalil
North America correspondent

There are also major political questions. Israel has not yet publicly commented on the agreement. While the White House insists this builds on a framework Israel has already accepted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far shown little appetite for a permanent withdrawal from Gaza, facing pressure from far-right coalition partners who have long opposed such a move.

When asked by reporters whether the US is convinced Israel will agree to the terms of the agreement, a US and Board of Peace Official said, "We're very confident they will adhere to it. If they don't, obviously, President Trump would be very, very disappointed."

Plenty of opportunity for process to collapsepublished at 03:25 BST

03:25 BST

Shaimaa Khalil
North America correspondent

No one will be surprised by the scepticism with which this announcement is being met. The fact that the BBC has now independently confirmed, through a senior Hamas official, that the group has agreed to this roadmap is significant. But two things stood out from a briefing with US and Board of Peace officials.

The first is that this is a phased process. US officials repeatedly stressed that every stage is conditional, independently verified and based on what they called "zero trust". No side moves forward until the other has fulfilled its commitments. If previous ceasefires are any guide, that leaves plenty of opportunities for the process to stall or collapse.

We've seen that before. President Trump's ceasefire agreement last October initially brought Israeli hostages home and allowed more aid into Gaza. But the truce later broke down, the bombing of Gaza resumed, the aid stopped, and both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the deal.

The second point is the sheer complexity of what is being proposed. This is not simply about Hamas handing over rifles. The roadmap envisages dismantling what US officials described as Hamas's wider military infrastructure: tunnels, heavy weapons, production facilities and weapons depots. Smaller armed groups would be disarmed first, with Hamas's military capabilities addressed later because officials acknowledge that will be a far longer and more technically demanding process.

Announcement met with little enthusiasm in Gazapublished at 03:13 BST

03:13 BST

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Cairo

In Gaza, the announcement has been met with little public enthusiasm.

After years of failed ceasefires and collapsed agreements, many Palestinians have grown deeply sceptical of new political breakthroughs. Some residents shared their views online saying they are less interested in the details of negotiations than in whether this deal will actually end the war, allow displaced families to return home and bring lasting relief.

For many, confidence in both Hamas and Israel remains low, with previous agreements having repeatedly broken down before delivering meaningful improvements on the ground.

We’re hearing from the Board of Peace, which has released a statement on social media.

The agreement, the board says, concludes months of “intensive, good faith negotiations to advance President Donald J. Trump's vision for establishing new governance, security, humanitarian relief, reconstruction, and economic recovery in Gaza”.

The board says the agreement “holds the promise of delivering significant benefits to the people of Gaza”.

“The Roadmap represents a historic breakthrough. For the first time, Hamas officially has committed to an actionable plan for relinquishing all its weapons, which will be followed by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”

The statement concludes by saying the board’s focus is now on implementation.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Talks were 'long and extremely difficult'published at 02:51 BST

02:51 BST

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Cairo

A senior Hamas official and member of the movement’s negotiating team told the BBC that the talks were “long and extremely difficult”, with Hamas insisting on the wording “inventorying and storing weapons” under Palestinian oversight rather than handing them over to Israel.

It remains too early to judge whether the agreement will be fully implemented or whether all parties will honour their commitments. But if it holds, it could mark the first credible step towards ending a war that has lasted for nearly three years and opening the way for a broader political process.

Trump unveiled the 20-point peace plan in October. It called for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and for a return of Israeli hostages seized in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Another key provision is the disarmament of Hamas along with the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The Board of Peace also was created as part of the plan.

Read more of our coverage of the Gaza peace plan here.

Disarmament potentially removes most significant obstacle to peace planpublished at 02:32 BST

02:32 BST

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, in Cairo

After months of marathon talks, Hamas has, for the first time, accepted a framework of the Board of Peace’s plan to completely disarm in Gaza.

The plan provides for the inventorying and storage of its remaining heavy weapons under Palestinian supervision, potentially removing the most significant obstacle to advancing the Trump-backed peace initiative for Gaza. The move comes soon after Hamas concluded leadership elections that brought Gaza-based leader Khalil al-Hayya to the head of the movement.

Palestinian officials involved in the talks believe the new leadership was prepared to take what he described as the most consequential political decision in Hamas’s history, driven by the devastating humanitarian conditions facing more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

US officials, who have just hosted a call for reporters, were asked how hopeful they are that Israel will agree to withdraw from Gaza once Hamas has disarmed.

"We're not asking Israel to do anything other than agree to the 20-point plan that they agreed to, initially. And so we're very confident they will adhere to it," an official responded.

If Israel decides not to withdraw as part of the 20-point plan, Trump would be "very disappointed", the official said. The official said they believed Israel would continue to be a good partner.

Shaimaa Khalil
North America correspondent, BBC News

The BBC has obtained the text of the four-page roadmap, which sets out a phased process linking Hamas's disarmament to a gradual Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of a new Palestinian transitional authority backed by an international stabilisation force.

US officials said the plan was deliberately built on "zero trust" and with verification, with neither Hamas nor Israel moving to the next phase until the other has fulfilled its commitments.

They said smaller groups in Gaza would be disarmed first, before Hamas begins dismantling what they described as its state-like military infrastructure of tunnels, weapons depots and production facilities - a process they acknowledged would take considerably longer.

Once the phases of the roadmap have been completed, a new Palestinian authority would hold complete control over weapons in Gaza. Israel has not yet publicly commented.

Back in January, the BBC’s Washington Correspondent Daniel Bush explained what you need to know about the Board of Peace.

Watch here:

The senior Hamas official who told the BBC that the group has agreed to the Board of Peace’s plan to completely disarm in Gaza said an official statement will be released soon.

The BBC also now has the text of the plan, and we will be bringing you what it says.