The second phase of President Donald Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is about to begin.
“Today, on behalf of President Trump, we are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President’s 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction,” Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, announced on X Wednesday.
In September, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire based on Trump’s 20-point plan aimed at ending the two-year conflict. The conflict began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, including more than 800 civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages.
Phase One of the deal began in October and included a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages still in Gaza. The remains of one hostage have yet to be returned to Israel.
“Importantly, Phase One delivered historic humanitarian aid, maintained the ceasefire, returned all living hostages and the remains of twenty-seven of the twenty-eight deceased hostages,” Witkoff said.
Phase Two of the deal will focus on governance, reconstruction, and demilitarization.
The second phase “establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,” Witkoff said in the announcement shared on X.
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, former adviser to Trump and the president’s son-in-law, played a central role in the creation of the peace plan and the peace deal negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The U.S. “expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations,” Witkoff added.
Even though Hamas said it would disarm, “there’s a lot of questions as to how it will be done and who will do it,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told The Daily Signal during an interview Tuesday.
Disarmament will happen, Huckabee added, “not because Hamas is going to finally come to their senses, but because President Trump has made it very clear this is going to happen.”
The Trump administration has stressed the necessity of the full disarmament of Hamas.
In October, Witkoff told “60 Minutes” there would be a weapons buyback program. So far, no such program has been executed.
“Hamas has made it clear that it has no intention to truly disarm,” Asher Fredman, a visiting fellow in the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
Hamas remains the “dominant force on the ground in western Gaza,” Fredman added. “This means that there is a real danger that if large-scale reconstruction begins before disarmament, it will enable Hamas to reconstruct its terror infrastructure.”