Al Jazeera

By Ali Mustafa and Zaid Sabah

    The Gaza Board of Peace says Hamas has agreed to a roadmap that would see it disarm in phases that would be matched by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

    A member of the Hamas delegation has told Al Jazeera that implementation would be conditioned on Israel implementing its part of the deal.

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted US bases in Kuwait and Jordan after US forces bombed a building on Qeshm Island, killing a couple and their two-year-old child. Explosions were also reported on Kish Island, in Bushehr and across four locations in Khuzestan, while three IRGC members were killed in a US strike on Zanjan province.

    Iraq’s prime minister has denied foreknowledge of US-Saudi attacks on Iran-aligned armed groups in the country, after the Iraqi military said there was no evidence the attacks were launched from its territory.

    Saudi Arabia has announced a 14-member maritime defence alliance to protect shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Oil prices drop, but stay on track for monthly gain of about 20%

    Oil prices dropped on Friday, though they remain on track for a monthly gain of about one-fifth.

    Supply shipments increased through vital maritime passages despite a lack of progress in talks between Iran and the US.

    Brent crude futures fell $1.03, or 1.2 percent, to $88 a barrel as of 02:15 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped $1.50, or 1.8 percent, to $82.09 a barrel.

    On a monthly basis, both benchmark contracts were poised to rise by roughly 20 percent.

Bab al-Mandeb sees 25 commodity ships pass through

    A total of 25 commercial freight vessels passed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Thursday, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains low, with only two tankers transiting, according to Kpler shipping data cited by Reuters.

    Of the 25 vessels in Bab al-Mandeb, 18 entered the waterway, and seven exited.

    This included several oil tankers, among them two very large crude carriers (VLCCs), one Suezmax tanker, and five Aframax vessels.

    Meanwhile, neither of the two ships that transited Hormuz had cargo on board.

Is the Gaza peace deal a significant breakthrough

    There are groups on all sides of the Gaza peace deal who would want to sabotage the agreement, says Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

    Weinstein told Al Jazeera that while the agreement is “very significant”, it is unclear if it is a breakthrough.

    “I think there will be a lot of scepticism that Hamas is not handing over all of its weapons, or that it is keeping some of its small arms,” said Weinstein.

    “There’s going to be various groups, armed militias operating in Gaza that are not part of Hamas, and they may wish to be spoilers to this agreement, and of course there are going to be Israeli politicians, who are hardliners and don’t want to see a withdrawal from Gaza, and they’ll be making these claims that Hamas is holding onto weapons that may or may not be true,” he added.

    “Verification is going to be important”.

Gaza ceasefire roadmap: Key takeaways from the Board of Peace statement

By Zaid Sabah

    The Gaza Board of Peace says that Hamas and the mediating countries – Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and the US – have finalised a detailed roadmap to carry out the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire.

    Hamas agreeing to give up its weapons has been described as a historic breakthrough by the Board.

    Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza will follow disarmament.

    Governance of Gaza will transfer to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

    Heavy weapons, tunnels, and military production sites will be dismantled and stored under the supervision of the NCAG and an international monitoring mechanism.

    No weapons will be transferred to Israel or any other Palestinian parties during the disarmament process.

    NCAG’s independence is paramount, as it will operate public institutions and services and audit Gaza’s financial and administrative affairs; no factions will interfere in its work.

    The International Stabilization Force will support the NCAG to enforce rule of law, stabilise security, and facilitate humanitarian aid.

Gaza deal gives Hamas a face-saving opportunity

    Hamas has few options left but to accept the Gaza Board of Peace deal, says Stephen Zunes, chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco.

    “Hamas’s policies have been a disaster for the Palestinian people, particularly the people in Gaza. Hamas doesn’t have the support of the majority of people in the Strip,” he said.

    “If this deal leads to a full Israeli withdrawal, Hamas will get the face-saving it wants, and can possibly declare victory.”

Serious concern international law being side-stepped on Gaza deal

By Nour Odeh

Reporting from Ramallah in occupied West Bank

    The Trump administration has presented a business model for reconstruction, not a political model, certainly not one anchored in international law.

    In fact, we’ve heard from Palestinian civil society, which has called for a Palestinian-centred approach to reconstruction and for ending the genocide, and for bringing back Gaza to the Palestinian political system.

    This is something that might not be in discussion right now with the Board of Peace.

    Implementation of the Gaza peace deal will be very complex, because the Board of Peace was not the first choice for all involved except, of course, US President Trump.

    Moving forward, talking about disarmament, talking about recovery and reconstruction, and having that Palestinian Technical Committee enter would create a different dynamic. That is at least the hope at this stage.

    All of this will depend on whether implementation will truly go ahead, because what we’ve seen in phase 1 is that the Israeli captives held by Hamas were released, some Palestinian captives held by Israel were released, some unidentified bodies of Palestinians held by Israel were also released, but then not much else moved forward.

    It was not sustainable… and the mediators are hoping things will be different this time.

    There is also concern that the US has too much control over this process. The main concern at the onset was that the Board of Peace would replace the United Nations; this is something not only Palestinians, but much of the international community object to.

    There is serious concern that international law is being side-stepped, given the nature of this situation – that Israel remains the occupying power, and that Palestinians are being occupied in contravention of international law.

    This context is being ignored by the Trump administration.

Board of Peace says roadmap will ‘deliver significant benefits’ to people of Gaza

    In a post on X, the Gaza Board of Peace says the “actionable plan” to disarm Hamas and lay the groundwork for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

    It also “holds the promise of delivering significant benefits to the people of Gaza, who have waited for too long for a better future” the post continued.

    The Board of Peace stressed that implementation is the next important focus, and that it is working with the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), phasing it towards “full authority, backed by the International Stabilization Force (ISF)” in order to achieve “rule of law, security, and humanitarian improvement in Gaza”.

‘Historic’: Board of Peace lauds Hamas agreement to disarm

    The Board of Peace, established to oversee Gaza’s post-war transition, has announced that Hamas officially agreed to a detailed roadmap for implementing the next phases of the “ceasefire”.

    “For the first time, Hamas officially has committed to an actionable plan for relinquishing all its weapons, which will be followed by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza,” The Board of Peace said in a post on X.

    “The agreement concludes months of intensive, good faith negotiations to advance President Donald J. Trump’s vision for establishing new governance, security, humanitarian relief, reconstruction, and economic recovery in Gaza as set out in the Comprehensive Peace Plan and UN Security Council Resolution 2803,” it added.

Gaza deal jubilation not felt by Palestinians in the Strip

By Ibrahim al-Khalili

Reporting from Gaza City, Gaza

    There is a very significant gap in what is being announced politically and diplomatically and what Palestinians are actually experiencing on the ground here in Gaza.

    The reality is, last October’s ceasefire hasn’t translated to any progress on the ground here in Gaza, where Palestinians continue to live under the threat of Israeli attacks.

    Multiple casualties are reported from across different parts of the Strip on a daily basis.

For ordinary Palestinians, the question is more urgent: When will they feel the impact of these announcements by Trump and others

    Palestinians want to see an end to the violence.

    They want to be able to move freely and to return to their homes, most of which have been destroyed.

    They want to have a sense that this war is genuinely coming to an end.

‘Will Israel live up to the agreement ’

    Israel can shift the goalposts on any deals it agrees to on Gaza, because it knows the US has its back, says Stephen Zunes, Middle East Studies chair at the University of San Francisco.

    While “Israel might agree in theory to the terms of this agreement”, Zunes said, it will likely start “reinterpreting it, or even violating it, with the understanding that the US is not going to push them, or that Washington will suddenly agree with their reinterpretation, or even blame the Palestinian side, as they have done so many times before”.