Report: US to allow Hamas to keep some of its arsenal

Trump’s negotiating team and former United Nations official working with the Board of Peace reportedly drafting plan allowing Hamas to retain some of its weapons.

By World Israel News Staff

The Trump administration is working with the Board of Peace to draft a plan aimed at securing Hamas support for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, with the terror group allowed to retain some of its weapons during the initial stages of the disarmament process, according to a report published Tuesday in The New York Times.

The report cited multiple sources, including officials familiar with the proposed disarmament plan.

The draft now under consideration would require Hamas to agree to surrender all of its weapons capable of striking Israel, while allowing the terror group to keep small arms, at least temporarily.

The plan was crafted by White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former United Nations Mideast envoy Nikolay Mladenov, who has recently been tapped to serve as director general of the Board of Peace.

The sources cited by the report emphasized that the draft has yet to be finalized, and key details could change before it is submitted to Hamas leaders for consideration in a few weeks.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the report.

A White House spokesman, Dylan Johnson, said that the president expects Hamas to disarm, in keeping with the 20-point peace plan it accepted in October.

“The United States is working closely with all parties and mediators to ensure full implementation of the plan and to advance a durable security framework that supports long-term stability in the region and prosperity for Gaza,” Johnson said.

Tuesday’s report echoes the approach presented by Kushner during a presentation last month in Davos, Switzerland.

Slides used during the presentation distinguished between “heavy weapons,” which would have to be “decommissioned immediately,” and “personal arms,” which are to be “registered and decommissioned.”