The comment came a day after what Trump called a "major milestone" towards ending the war in Gaza that he said would see the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups. "It's a big step for the Middle East, and people are really impressed by it, and they're surprised by it," he said. Trump's announcement on Thursday of the agreement by his Gaza Board of Peace followed months of faltering efforts to keep the ceasefire agreement reached last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on track, and it wasn't immediately clear how strongly either Hamas or Israel stood behind it. Previous attempts to reach an agreement have foundered amid mutual suspicion and each side's insistence that the other must move first.

A senior Hamas official involved in the negotiation told Reuters that implementation of the deal would depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an ​agreement reached last year that bound it to a phased end to military operations and withdrawal of its forces from Gaza. An Israeli official said Israel's position remained ⁠that "there will be no withdrawal whatsoever of the ⁠IDF from the current yellow line unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament," referring to a military demarcation line agreed ‌in the ceasefire. Hamas agrees to disarm under Trump's new Gaza peace deal, if Israel withdraws forces Trump, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday, said Israel was "very happy" about the deal. "Israel helped us, and they've been very good," he said.