President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday they believe Hamas will disarm under a US-backed ceasefire plan in Gaza as the country enters its second phase.
But as regional analysts warned that the terror group has no intention of disarming and could ultimately block Trump’s Gaza plan, Hamas officials also pushed back on Trump’s claim.
During his 10th Cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump appeared confident that the Palestinian Islamic militant group would throw down its arms.
“And now we want Hamas, without weapons, right? To disarm,” Trump said before adding, “A lot of people said they’re never going to disarm. It looks like they’re going to disarm.”
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Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump, attend a luncheon hosted by the President for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Witkoff echoed Trump’s assessment, telling the president that the process was already underway.
“We got the terrorists out of there and they are going to demilitarize. They will do that because they have no choice,” Witkoff said. ‘They’re going to give up. They’re going to give up the AK-47s.”
Regional analysts warned that the terror group has no intention of disarming and could even completely block Trump’s Gaza plan.
National security analyst Kobi Michael said Hamas “does not intend to disarm itself and never has.”
He added that “they don’t really talk to each other and they don’t really understand each other,” indicating rifts between the two sides.
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Terrorists in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza celebrate the ceasefire on January 19, 2025. (TPS-IL)
“The Israeli Defense Forces are the only entity that can disarm Hamas,” Michael said, noting that “no one except Turkey is willing to send its troops to the International Stabilization Force to fight Hamas,” referring to the planned force authorized by the United Nations to oversee security and demilitarization in Gaza.
Senior Hamas officials on Thursday bluntly contradicted the White House story The times of Israel.
Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group “has never agreed to disarmament; no one has raised this directly with us,” stressing that Hamas remains firmly in control of Gaza.
The newspaper also reported that Abu Marzouk indicated that Hamas retains a de facto veto over appointments to a newly formed technocratic committee intended to govern the Strip.
The committee, announced as part of phase two of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, is intended to oversee Gaza’s civilian affairs and manage reconstruction once the ceasefire stabilizes.
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Hamas officials deny Trump’s disarmament claims during ceasefire negotiations in Gaza. (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem.)
Witkoff said: “We are now in the second phase… we have established for the first time, Mr. President, on your behalf a technocratic, all-Arab government.”
The body is expected to provide basic services to Gaza’s more than two million residents, even as the United Nations estimates reconstruction costs will exceed $50 billion.
But Michael warned that the new structure is vulnerable to manipulation by Hamas, with the group likely to exploit any new setup.
“They will use the existing bureaucracy that will be run by the technocrats to control and influence the way this government will actually operate – the Hezbollah model,” he said.
He added that Hamas has already “demanded more time, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and immediate reconstruction, while quietly maintaining its military capabilities.”
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“Trump could conclude that no one can disarm Hamas except the Israeli army,” Michael said. “Then it will become clear that Hamas is the ultimate spoiler and a major obstacle in Trump’s Gaza plan.”
