Israel has approved a US team’s entry into southern Gaza to identify potential locations for Hamas to surrender its weapons, a key step in President Donald Trump’s plan to demilitarize the Strip.
By Hezy Laing
Israel has approved the entry of a US company into Gaza to identify locations where Hamas could surrender its weapons.
The company will work under the Board of Peace, the body established to advance President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza. Its team is expected to enter the Strip in the coming days and assess potential handover sites in southern Gaza, in areas under Israeli military control.
The mission aims to establish where Hamas operatives could turn over rifles and other weapons for collection and destruction. The team will also need to consider how the handover could take place under Israeli security arrangements.
The Board of Peace said it was working with Israeli authorities to finalize the practical arrangements for demilitarization. However, the process still depends on receiving the necessary authorizations and security guarantees.
Disarmament Before Israeli Withdrawal
Under the reported framework, Hamas must surrender its weapons as part of a broader process intended to enable an Israeli military withdrawal and transfer responsibility for Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian administration.
The proposed handover process faces major obstacles. Officials must determine how weapons will be collected, how their destruction will be verified, and how Israeli forces can maintain security while the process unfolds.
A senior Israeli defense official separately told Channel 14 that Hamas had increased preparations for renewed fighting in recent weeks. The official alleged that the terrorist organization was recruiting new members, including teenagers, and giving some accelerated weapons training. These claims have not been independently verified.
The reported preparations underscore Israel’s central concern: a ceasefire and political agreement cannot provide lasting security if Hamas retains the ability to rebuild its military capabilities.
Hamas’s Weapons Network Remains a Challenge
The proposed handover mission comes after years of Israeli operations exposing Hamas weapons factories, storage facilities, and tunnels.
In January 2024, the IDF announced that troops from the 36th Division, working with the Yahalom combat engineering unit and Shaldag special forces, had uncovered a major weapons manufacturing complex near the Salah al-Din Road in central Gaza.
The underground and above-ground facilities included workshops and machinery used to manufacture weapons and ammunition. The IDF also reported that tunnels connected parts of the network, allowing weapons to be transported throughout the Strip.
The IDF published details of the discovery.
The US Army has also studied Israel’s experience confronting Hamas’s extensive tunnel network. A September 2025 Army report examined Israeli methods for detecting, mapping, and neutralizing underground infrastructure, highlighting the military lessons that American forces can draw from the fighting in Gaza.
The US Army report is available online.
A Critical Test for Gaza’s Future
The proposed American mission would mark a shift from locating and destroying Hamas’s military infrastructure during combat to establishing a process for collecting and dismantling its weapons.
Its success will depend on Hamas’s cooperation, enforceable security arrangements, and a reliable system for verifying that surrendered weapons are destroyed and not simply hidden or transferred elsewhere.
For Israel, the stakes are considerable. A credible disarmament process could help create the conditions for a gradual military withdrawal while reducing the danger of Hamas rebuilding its arsenal.
But identifying handover sites is only an initial step. Until weapons are surrendered and their removal is verified, the central question of whether Hamas will genuinely disarm remains unanswered.
