Smoke rises following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. A BBC expert has warned there are “many reasons” Hamas’s promise to disarm in Gaza may fall through. Donald Trump claimed overnight that the Palestinian militant group had agreed to put down its weapons if Israel withdrew from Gaza so a “new Palestinian government” can take over. Hamas’s arms will be put under the control of a new technocratic committee who will eventually take over the governance of Gaza. Israel is yet to formally agree to the proposal, though US officials say Trump would be “very, very disappointed” if the country does not honour the agreement. It comes after nine months of deadlocked talks following a US-brokered ceasefire, which failed to stop deadly strikes on Gaza. Hamas’s disarmament is the sixth item on Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ with a 20-point plan to resolve the Middle East conflict. Officials say the process could take up to 350 days, according to the Associated Press. Trump claimed on TruthSocial he and his team had made “historic” process on this “amazing development that everybody said could never be achieved”. But the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen told Radio 4’s Today programme there’s no guarantee this is the beginning of the end. “There are many reasons why this will not work,” he said. “There are many reasons why everybody should hope that it does a way of working. “More than two million people, Palestinians in Gaza, live in the most hellish conditions, in tents, disease, awful hellish misery. “Equally, Israelis have legitimate reasons about being concerned about Hamas because of what happened on October 7 [2023]. “However, there are lots of conditionals in this. It depends on Israel also being willing to withdraw from territory in Gaza, when actually what they’ve been doing is deepening their control of it.” He said while Israel has not offered up an official response to Trump’s announcement, the office of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement “pouring cold water” on the whole process last night. Israel has elections in October and “the whole political spectrum is on the right” and therefore against concessions towards Palestinians, according to Bowen. Despite the obstacles, the expert suggested there is still some optimism this could work because, until now, there has been “zero hope”. He speculated the change may have been triggered by Hamas’s new leadership, who could be looking to “relaunch themselves ultimately as more of a political organisation”. “Plus they don’t have a great many options at the moment because Israel has kept up military pressure,” Bowen said. “More than one million Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire, including many children.” He added that Trump is also grappling with the mid-term elections coming up in November and “he wants to have some wins” before voters hit the ballot box. Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster. Related... Producer Of Gaza Documentary Takes Aim At The BBC During TV Baftas Speech Wes Streeting Believes Israel Committed 'War Crimes' In Gaza, Messages To Mandelson Reveal UK Minister Hits Back At Trump's 'Absurd' Invitation For Putin To Join Gaza Board Of Peace