Hamas agree peace plan on Gaza; Iran hits Kuwait after US strikes

GAZA CITY, July 31: Hamas said Friday it agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The group's disarmament has been one of the key sticking points in the advancement of a ceasefire deal that has been in place in Gaza since October.

US President Donald Trump announced late Thursday an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas, calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza.

Hamas officials told AFP a committee established by Trump's Board of Peace to govern Gaza would oversee the process of storing the Islamist movement's weapons.

The group said it expected mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure Israel complied with the deal's terms, which included Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.

Ghazi Hamad, a member of the group's negotiating team, said the movement was making "concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement".

"Israel will not intervene in the issue of disarmament. The National Committee is the body that will undertake this task," he said, referring to the National Committee for Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

There was no immediate statement from Israel.

Despite the October ceasefire, violence has continued in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing at least four people, including two children, on Thursday, according to health officials.

The Board of Peace confirmed in a post on X that Hamas had "agreed to a detailed Roadmap for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire".

"Our focus now turns to implementation," the organisation wrote, adding the NCAG will "soon begin a phased transition toward full authority".

Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, said Friday the deal "took months of very difficult negotiations".

"What happens next matters even more. Implementation and verification have to be real," Mladenov wrote on X.

"Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning," he added.

Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News said early Friday that Cairo is set to host a meeting "soon" of the Gaza truce mediators, which also include the United States, Qatar and Turkey, focused on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said there would be "no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people. One authority, one law, one weapon".

The roadmap, the source said, would create "a process for the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons and any weapons production facilities".

The source said a verification mechanism would ensure compliance by each side.

Meanwhile, Iran's military said on Friday it launched drone strikes targeting US military facilities in Kuwait, as fighting resumed between Washington and Tehran in the Middle East war after a nearly week-long lull.

The army said in a statement it targeted "fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communications systems and equipment storage facilities at Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait".

There was no immediate comment from the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Iranian army said the strikes came "in response to the recent aggression by the terrorist US military against our country and its brutal attack on a residential home on Qeshm Island".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday that they had struck two tankers attempting to pass though the strategic Strait of Hormuz under the "air escort" of the US military.

The IRGC said the "non-compliant oil tankers... were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions".

The Guards said the tankers had attempted to pass the strait via "an undeclared route", the US-backed alternative to Tehran's designated waterway closer to its own shores.

Iran has effectively maintained control over navigation through Hormuz since the outbreak of the war on February 28, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

Local media reported on Thursday that three members of a family were killed in US strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz waterway crucial for oil and gas trade.

The trade route normally carries around 20 percent of global oil shipments and has been effectively closed by Iran since the outbreak of the war on February 28.

The US has carried out repeated strikes on Iran's southern coastal provinces as it seeks to weaken Tehran's control over the waterway.
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