World Rallies Behind Historic Gaza Disarmament and Withdrawal Agreement

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that the announcement of Hamas's disarmament and Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was the only piece of good news to emerge from the Middle East in recent days, as governments around the world welcomed the historic agreement unveiled by US President Donald Trump.

Speaking on Friday, Guterres said the agreement on Hamas's disarmament was one of the rare pieces of good news for the Middle East. He said the announcement of the deal by the US president, under which Hamas will lay down its weapons and Israel will withdraw from Gaza, was the only good news of the past several days.

The UN chief also called for an urgent halt to fighting and confrontations on all other fronts in the region. He warned that the world had now entered the sixth month of military tensions in the Gulf, cautioning that what began as a regional conflict was increasingly threatening to undermine global stability.

A wave of international backing

The official announcement of the 20-point Gaza agreement, covering Hamas's disarmament and the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces, drew broad and warm international support Friday from the United Nations, the European Union, France, Britain, Canada and Pakistan. Trump said Israel was fully satisfied with the step.

Speaking to reporters at Camp David, Trump said Israel was very pleased with the decision. "We have an understanding with Israel, and Tel Aviv is very happy with this step, and they have given us good cooperation," he said.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, described the plan to disarm Hamas as a constructive step toward peace, while stressing that monitoring Hamas's compliance would pose a major challenge. She said the EU was prepared to support the deployment of the national committee and an international peacekeeping force, and pointed to the bloc's pledge of 900 million euros in humanitarian aid to help restore stability to Gaza.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy's successor, Ed Miliband, welcomed the agreement in a statement, calling for full implementation of the 20-point plan and the swift removal of all Israeli obstacles to delivering aid, food and medicine into Gaza. He thanked the United States, Qatar, Türkiye and Egypt for their tireless mediation efforts.

France's foreign ministry formally welcomed Hamas's disarmament as a central condition of the new New York declaration, saying Hamas must hand its weapons to the national committee in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2803, paving the way for Israel's withdrawal and the deployment of an international force to support Palestinian police.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the achievement and thanked the mediating nations. He reaffirmed Canada's commitment to more than $500 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza and voiced continued support for a two-state solution and the safety of the Palestinian people.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the initiative, expressing hope that it would secure the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, sovereign state based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry also welcomed the official announcement of the historic disarmament agreement, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of an international peacekeeping force, and formal recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

Hamas confirms agreement to the deal

Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas figure, said in a television interview Friday morning that the movement's agreement to the comprehensive peace deal came after consultations with Palestinian factions, with the preservation of the Palestinian people as the central goal. He said Hamas had put forward a political compromise but would not abandon its national project.

Board of Peace publishes 15-point roadmap

Trump announced Friday morning that a "historic" agreement had been reached for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, describing it as part of the implementation of his 20-point plan to secure peace and stability in the region.

The same day, the Board of Peace released a new roadmap titled "A Roadmap to Complete the Implementation of Trump's Comprehensive Peace Plan in the Gaza Strip," built around 15 core principles:

The roadmap opens by reaffirming all parties' commitment to Trump's peace plan and UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025), with the stated aim of ending the destruction, securing a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, restoring normal life, and laying the economic and security groundwork for Palestinian self-determination and statehood.

It commits Israel to swiftly implementing the terms of the Sharm el-Sheikh protocol and halting all military operations, while Hamas and other Palestinian factions halt their own attacks. Within 14 days of the roadmap's adoption, a timetable and mechanisms for the second phase are to be prepared, subject to extension by the International Verification Committee (IVC).

Progress between phases is conditioned on full implementation of the previous phase's commitments, monitored and recorded by the IVC. Hamas and other groups have agreed to hand over full civil and security administration of Gaza to a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which will operate independently and free from interference during the transition.

The NCAG is tasked with maintaining civil institutions and public services, treating employees fairly under Palestinian law and protecting the rights of retirees. With international backing, it will conduct financial and administrative oversight and allocate up to $400 million to compensate companies and contractors under a three-year pilot program, with other financial disputes deferred to future national dialogue.

Under the principle of "one authority, one law, one weapon," the NCAG becomes the sole legal body authorized to hold and control weapons — a principal Hamas had rejected since 2006 but has now accepted as the foundation for subsequent phases of disarmament.

Police forces will be vetted and reorganized under NCAG oversight, with officers who do not pass review offered civilian work or retirement under Palestinian law without loss of financial rights; all police weapons are to be handed to the NCAG at the outset. Heavy weapons, weapons-production facilities, warehouses and tunnels will be dismantled under NCAG oversight and the supervision of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), in parallel with Israel's phased withdrawal, monitored by the IVC — with no weapons handed to Israel or any outside party.

Personal weapons will fall entirely under Palestinian law, with the NCAG holding sole authority to register, license and enforce controls on small arms, while the use of assault weapons is banned outright. All militia weapons will be removed and stored in official warehouses under NCAG oversight, and militia members will not be permitted to join the official police force, which is to remain neutral.

A social peace agreement under Palestinian law will halt domestic violence, military displays and armed demonstrations to prevent retaliation and armed presence in public spaces. The ISF will be deployed to separate Israeli forces from areas under NCAG control — without a domestic policing role — training police, monitoring the ceasefire, providing security and moving humanitarian aid into Gaza free of interference from armed groups.

Israel's army will withdraw completely from Gaza according to a clear timetable tied to the disarmament phases, with no Palestinian civilian forced to leave the territory. The NCAG becomes the primary authority over domestic security, while Gaza's reconstruction — including funding and resources — will proceed under the joint oversight of the Board of Peace and the NCAG, in line with international standards.

Path to the Board of Peace

The roadmap builds on groundwork laid earlier this year. At the Board of Peace's first meeting in Washington on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, Trump announced his administration would channel $10 billion to Gaza through the council, and disclosed that nine allied countries had pledged a combined $7 billion toward Gaza's relief package.

Weeks earlier, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump signed the charter establishing the Board of Peace. "This is a golden opportunity to establish peace," he said. "Our goal is to end conflicts that have continued for more than 35 years, as well as to prevent new war and establish stability."

Separately, the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in a joint statement issued by the UAE foreign ministry, welcomed Trump's invitation to join the Board of Peace.