Hamas given proposal for gradual weapon handover in months-long process — officials

The disarmament proposal presented to Hamas by Gaza ceasefire mediators this month in Cairo envisions all armed groups in the Strip gradually handing over their weapons over the coming months, two Arab diplomats familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Friday.

The proposal requires Hamas to — within 90 days — hand over its heavy weaponry, such as missiles and rocket launchers, in addition to maps of its tunnel network.

A buy-back program would also offer jobs and funds to armed group members who agree to hand over their personal weapons, though, that process is expected to take longer than the initial three-month timeline given for heavy weaponry, the first Arab diplomat said.

While Hamas negotiators have expressed willingness in talks with Arab mediators to hand over the terror group’s heavy weapons, they have insisted on maintaining lighter weapons, arguing that they are necessary for self-defense, the Arab diplomat added.

Details of the disarmament proposal were first published by the National Public Radio, The New York Times and Haaretz.

The proposal envisions the weapons being handed over to the yet-to-be-formed Palestinian police. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which is supposed to replace Hamas in governing Gaza, began recruitment for the new police force last month.

Palestinians who previously served as Hamas civil servants have been allowed to apply to the new police force, but they will have to undergo Israeli vetting in order to be approved, the first Arab diplomat said, adding that those who Israel says were involved in Hamas’s October 7 onslaught may not be granted immunity.

The weapon handover will take place geographically, beginning with southern Gaza, and will see the Palestinian police and the International Stabilization Force phase out the IDF in areas from which weapons have been cleared, the Arab diplomat said.

The second Arab diplomat expressed skepticism that Israel would ultimately agree to further withdrawals of its troops from Gaza.

The proposal also envisions Israel lifting curbs on humanitarian aid and reconstruction equipment for Gaza as the handover of weapons progresses.

The gradual disarmament framework goes against what Israeli officials had long said was their stance, demanding that the weapons handover be conducted all at once.

However, mediating countries — the United States, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt — were convinced that the Israeli demand was unrealistic, the Arab diplomat said.

Israel was aware of the proposal presented to Hamas in Cairo last week and did not object to it, believing that it would ultimately be rejected by Hamas anyway, the second Arab diplomat said.

The Gaza mediators are hoping Hamas responds to the proposal in the coming days, and the Arab diplomat speculated that the terror group would come back with a counteroffer, which will further drag out the process.

The disarmament proposal was presented to Hamas in Cairo meetings headed by the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, along with US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, the Arab diplomats said.

Mladenov, the former UN diplomat charged with implementing US President Donald Trump’s plan for a postwar Gaza, said on Thursday that the ceasefire’s mediating countries all agreed on a “framework” that “can unlock reconstruction, breathe life into communities, and bring closer to unity and a negotiated resolution of the Palestinian question. It is now on the table.”

He said, however, that executing on the framework “requires one clear choice: full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs.”

Mladenov’s announcement came as Hamas’s security forces stepped up their control of the territory in recent weeks.

The October 2025 ceasefire deal mostly ended two years of fighting triggered by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, and the first phase secured the release of all remaining hostages taken by the terror group, in exchange for Israel’s release of thousands of Palestinian security prisoners and detainees.

Gazans who spoke with The Times of Israel in recent days testified to the terror regime’s increased presence in the Strip in recent weeks, enforcing price controls, managing the distribution of goods arriving from outside the Strip, and seeming to intimidate some residents who’d previously spoken to international media by name, but now insist upon anonymity.