Middle East — 2026-08-01

Hamas Agrees to Hand Over Weapons to Palestinian Governing Committee Under US-Backed Roadmap

BLUFHamas's public disarmament pledge is unlikely to produce actual weapons transfers before end of September, as the preconditions of Israeli withdrawal and expanded aid remain unmet.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, told Reuters the group will hand over its weapons to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the technocratic body established under the Board of Peace framework to run the enclave 1. Hamad said the handover is contingent on Israeli forces withdrawing and on increased aid and goods entering the territory 1. He said mediators were told Israel must abide by the agreement, and that NCAG and an international force must oversee the disbanding of Israeli-backed militias in Gaza 1. NCAG responded on X that it welcomed Hamas's commitment and affirmed its "full readiness to assume its responsibilities" 1. France 24 separately reported the disarmament commitment as part of the broader ceasefire plan pushed by the Trump administration 2.

Analysis
Hamas's naming of NCAG as recipient and attachment of explicit preconditions moves the commitment from the roadmap's general framework to a specific, conditional pledge NCAG has publicly accepted, but Hamas is unlikely to begin physically transferring weapons within the next two months since its stated conditions, Israeli withdrawal and expanded aid flows, remain unmet. The pledge shifts the onus onto Israel to act first without resolving the underlying sequencing deadlock, and the conditional framing may function chiefly to shift blame for the roadmap's stalled implementation onto Israel rather than signal genuine near-term intent to disarm. Confidence is moderate, given a still-narrow two-outlet record with only one source reporting firsthand and no independent indicator of Israeli movement. Absent a transfer, verification efforts stay frozen on determining whether Israeli withdrawal, not Hamas, is the actual blocking condition.

2 sources

Hamas to hand weapons over to Palestinian National Committee if Israeli troops withdraw - Middle East Eye
Hamas agrees to disarm under Trump ceasefire deal - France 24