Israel bombs Gaza after Trump agrees disarmament plan with Hamas

 At least 18 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza despite Hamas agreeing to a deal to end the war.

A man and his wife were killed in an Israeli helicopter attack on an apartment south of Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Palestinian civil defence officials said.

Several others were killed in Israeli warplane attacks across Khan Younis, southern Gaza, and Gaza City, they added. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was approached for comment.

Authorities reported on Saturday that eight other people had been killed in strikes that damaged a hospital’s medical supplies and targeted a rooftop.

On Friday, Donald Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to surrender weapons in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza as part of a multi-stage process.

The terms would force Israel to stop bombing the territory and to withdraw in stages, alongside Hamas handing over weapons as part of a Northern Ireland-style peace process.

The US president hailed the 15-point plan, negotiated through his Board of Peace, as a “major milestone”. But Israel later vowed that it would not withdraw without “genuine disarmament”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has not commented, but Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli national security minister, described the plan as unacceptable.

A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu’s office told Reuters that Israel had expressed concern to US officials about the agreement.

“The most important concern for Israel is that nothing can happen before Hamas completely and truly disarms,” the spokesman said.

On Sunday, Eli Cohen, the Israeli energy minister, said the government would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but was “very sceptical” it would actually happen.

Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio, Mr Cohen claimed there had been no deal to pause attacks on Gaza and that he still saw a need for Israel to take full control of the enclave if Hamas did not disarm. 

He said: “In the deal we signed with the United States, our stance is that Hamas must be dismantled. This is the first thing that must happen.”

Under the new Gaza deal, Hamas’s police would hand over weapons to a transitional body for storage and decommissioning. In return, Israeli troops would withdraw from the territory.

Personal weapons left in the territory would then be handed over, alongside weapons held by IDF-backed militias and other armed clans.

Mohammed Dahlan, a former senior Fatah official, said Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, had told him that he was working with the Israeli side to stop attacks on Gaza.

He said contact with the US was continuing to ensure the agreement was implemented, adding that its success depended on Israel stopping its attacks.

Mr Trump also said the agreement included the disarmament of “all other armed groups”, which was assumed to mean various “clans”, some of which are backed by Israel.

Based on the premise of “zero trust”, each stage of the plan would be verifiable and would be accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal.

Diplomatic sources previously told The Telegraph there was “much work to do” to turn the plan into reality and that there were various ways Israel could frustrate it at a technical level.

Under the ceasefire agreement of last October, the IDF was given control of about 53 per cent of Gaza but has since expanded its control to an estimated 60 to 70 per cent of the territory.

“An agreement has been reached regarding the issue of weapons. Furthermore, an agreement has been reached on a gradual withdrawal of [Israeli forces] from the Strip,” a Hamas official said.