Is the Gaza peace plan progress a major breakthrough? - analysis

The deal began in September and October, and then the Board of Peace was inaugurated in January. An International Stabilization Force (ISF) was also created but still lacks personnel.

According to the Board of Peace, the roadmap establishes "a historic breakthrough." The organization stated that, "for the first time, Hamas officially has committed to a plan for relinquishing all its weapons, which will be followed by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza."

The agreement builds on UN Security Council Resolution 2803 and the Trump administration's broader 20-point peace initiative. Rather than creating an entirely new framework, it establishes implementation mechanisms for the next phases of a process that had largely stalled after the first stage of the ceasefire.

Senior Trump administration officials emphasized this distinction following President Trump's announcement of what he described as a "historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas." Officials clarified that the agreement establishes how the original peace plan would be implemented rather than constituting an entirely new accord.

Under the roadmap, both Israel and Hamas would complete commitments stemming from the earlier Sharm el-Sheikh Protocol. Hamas and other Palestinian factions would cease military operations and begin a structured process of decommissioning weapons. In parallel, Israel would complete its withdrawal according to an agreed timetable verified by an International Verification Committee.

That verification mechanism appears central to the agreement. The proposed committee would include representatives of the guarantor countries, the Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is expected to oversee security during the transition.

The roadmap also lays out a significant political transition inside Gaza. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a technocratic Palestinian governing body established as part of the peace plan, would gradually assume responsibility for administering the Strip.

In its first public reaction following the announcement, the NCAG declared itself fully prepared to begin governing Gaza.

"The priority today is to translate this progress into practical steps that have a tangible impact on citizens' daily lives," the committee said. It added that it had spent months preparing institutional structures capable of restoring public services, strengthening the rule of law, facilitating humanitarian aid and leading reconstruction.

The Board of Peace said the NCAG would assume authority in phases while being supported by the ISF. Previous announcements have indicated that the ISF will include personnel from countries such as Kosovo, Albania and Morocco, with additional participating countries expected.

Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's High Representative for Gaza, described the negotiations as one of the most difficult diplomatic efforts in recent years.

"Today, agreement has been reached on the decommissioning of weapons and civilian transition in Gaza," Mladenov wrote. "It took months of very difficult negotiations to get here."

However, he cautioned that the agreement itself represents only the beginning.

"What the agreement says matters. What happens next matters even more," Mladenov said, stressing that implementation and verification must be genuine and that Israeli withdrawal should proceed "in lockstep" with Hamas's decommissioning of weapons.

International reactions reflected cautious optimism.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed the agreement, describing the proposed Hamas disarmament as "a constructive step towards peace." At the same time, she warned that "verifying Hamas' compliance will be a significant challenge" and noted that Israel would eventually need to complete its withdrawal from Gaza if the agreement succeeds.

Former US Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross also emphasized the practical challenges ahead. Ross noted that the decommissioning process would likely unfold over approximately eight months and that Hamas's weapons would initially be placed under the authority of the NCAG rather than immediately destroyed. If implemented successfully, he argued, the process could enable both reconstruction and an eventual Israeli military withdrawal.

Support also came from Capitol Hill. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee welcomed the agreement, stating that Hamas and its affiliates "must completely and verifiably disarm" if lasting peace is to emerge and pledged continued support for President Trump's Gaza initiative.

The agreement represents one of the most ambitious attempts to address the long-standing question of who governs Gaza after Hamas. Previous proposals frequently stumbled over sequencing, with Israel demanding Hamas's disarmament before withdrawal while Hamas insisted on Israeli withdrawal before surrendering military capabilities.

The roadmap attempts to bridge that divide by linking both processes through international monitoring and phased implementation.

Whether it succeeds will depend less on the language of the agreement than on whether the parties carry out their commitments over the coming months. Verification of Hamas's compliance, the deployment of the International Stabilization Force, the assumption of authority by the NCAG and Israel's phased withdrawal will all require sustained political backing from Washington and the mediating countries.

For now, negotiators are portraying the roadmap as the first credible pathway toward a post-Hamas governing structure in Gaza, one that combines Palestinian administration, international security support and a framework for reconstruction after years of conflict.