Hamas Accepts Hostage Release in US Plan, But Sidesteps Disarmament

In a major diplomatic breakthrough late Friday night, Hamas announced it has accepted significant portions of the U.S.-led peace proposal, including the immediate release of all Israeli hostages and a plan to cede administrative control of Gaza. However, in its formal response, the group stopped short of agreeing to the core U.S. and Israeli demand for its own disarmament, leaving a formidable obstacle on the path to a final deal.
The statement, which came just ahead of a weekend deadline set by the White House, marks a stunning reversal from the defiant tone of Hamas’s military leadership just a day earlier. It signals that intense, back-channel diplomacy has yielded the most promising opening to end the war to date.
According to its official response, Hamas agrees “to release all occupation prisoners, alive and dead, according to the exchange formula mentioned in President Trump’s proposal.” This is the most crucial concession, addressing the primary humanitarian and political objective for Israel and the international community.
Furthermore, the group renewed its approval “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian independent technocratic authority,” a move that would see Hamas relinquish the day-to-day governance of the territory it has controlled for nearly two decades.
While these points represent a monumental step forward, the statement carefully circumvents the non-negotiable issue of demilitarization. Instead of agreeing to disarm, Hamas stated that other matters in the U.S. proposal, including “the future of the Gaza Strip and the authentic rights of the Palestinian people,” would be addressed later through a “comprehensive Palestinian national framework in which Hamas will participate.”
This language effectively tables the disarmament issue, repositioning it as a topic for internal Palestinian negotiation rather than a precondition for the current ceasefire and hostage deal. This remains a fundamental point of contention for Israel, which has stated its primary war aim is the complete dismantling of Hamas’s military capabilities.
The partial acceptance creates a complex new dynamic for mediators in Qatar and Egypt. They now have concrete, positive commitments from Hamas on the critical issues of hostages and governance, providing significant momentum. However, they are also left with the immense challenge of bridging the gap between Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s demand that it must.
For now, this fragile breakthrough has pulled the region back from the brink of an imminent and wider conflict, but the ultimate success of the peace plan will depend on whether this final, formidable hurdle can be overcome.