US, Israel Set Firm 2-Month Deadline For Full Hamas Disarmament

Israeli media is reporting that Israel and the United States have reached an understanding to give Hamas a two-month ultimatum to finally and fully disarm. The reports say the agreement came immediately after an overnight meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago at the start of the week.

The move is being described as a fixed deadline rather than an opening for negotiations. Israeli and US teams are already reportedly working simultaneously to determine what they describe as “practical disarmament.” This after Hamas has effectively been defeated since it launched the brutal Oct.7, 2023 terror assault on southern Israel.

Another key focus is the dismantling of Hamas’s underground tunnel network throughout Gaza, which Israeli officials consider a core element of the group’s military strength.

Hamas has throughout the Gaza war proven itself effective in guerilla and insurgency tactics, utilizing small teams to maneuver quickly in and out of the tunnels, even at times taking out IDF tanks with IEDs. Sometimes bombs are even attached to Israeli armor vehicles by hand in these ambushes, after which a Hamas militant darts back into an underground tunnel, as has been demonstrated in various videos.

Sources quoted by Israel Hayom said Israeli officials doubt Hamas that would be willing or able to relinquish most of its weapons or military capabilities within the two-month window.

From the perspective of Hamas leadership, the moment it fully gives up its weapons means the group is effectively dead and will have no more influence to govern in the future.

But this is also exactly what the US-Israeli plan and the ceasefire calls for: the effective end of Hamas rule in governance in the Gaza Strip forever.

PM Netanyahu while giving media interviews during his December US trip described that Hamas still possesses “around 60,000” Kalashnikov rifles and “hundreds of kilometers” of tunnels.

He has vowed that Hamas disarmament can be achieved “the easy way” or the hard way – that is through military force. But as of last summer, Hamas was insistent that it will never give up its weapons.

There’s also the possibility that Hamas leadership won’t be able to induce all of its fighters and ‘ground troops’ to give up their weapons – again, as they would fear being tracked down and killed by Israeli forces.