Israel is satisfied with Hamas's concession - but warns of traps ahead

In Israel, there is a cautious approach to the agreements between the Peace Council and Hamas. On one hand, there is great satisfaction with Hamas's surrender, as evidenced by its agreement to hand over its weapons after long negotiations and the militant statements made during them.

A senior security official told "HaYom": "There is even a certain element of surprise that the Islamic terrorist organization, for which weapons are a symbol, is willing to hand them over, even if only declaratively. This is a revolution. And let it be clear - what brought them to this is the intensity of the blow they received from the IDF during the war. It is a beaten organization, devoid of strategic weapons, and it has also lost public sympathy, at least in part."

Alongside this, there is concern at both the political and security levels regarding the implementation of the agreements. Conversations with senior Israeli officials reveal that there is no agreement on the issue of weapons storage, the pace of their handover, and who will receive them. Hamas is willing for the weapons to be handed over to Palestinian hands, as this softens the criticism for giving them up, and it also estimates that it will be able to regain control of them when necessary.

Disputes over weapons and withdrawal

Israel demands the implementation of demilitarization, meaning the complete removal of weapons from Gaza. The emerging compromise is that the weapons will be taken to warehouses that will be under the control of multinational forces, but in territory controlled by Israel.

There are also disagreements regarding the issue of Israeli withdrawal, parallel to the handover of weapons. Hamas demands that Israel immediately withdraw to the official yellow line, while Israel opposes any withdrawal before the actual execution of the weapons handover begins.

There are other disputes, including Israeli military response to emerging threats, the opening of the Rafah crossing, the scope of future withdrawals, and more. However, the assessment in Israel is that the implementation will be long-term. Even in the Peace Council's briefings, they speak of at least a year, and they are aware that this is an overly optimistic estimate.

Israel also assesses that Hamas will not fulfill its part of the agreement and will continue in various ways to carry out attacks against Israel.

Fear of conflict with Washington

The security official said that Israel must ensure that the agreement covers all of Hamas's activities, not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank and abroad. He cast doubt on the possibility that the Islamic terrorist organization would become a political organization only.

Another concern in Israel is the potential for disagreements with Washington over the implementation of the agreements, mainly because they contain many gray areas and formulations that can be interpreted in different ways.

For the Americans, the agreement is important. The announcement by Donald Trump himself, who announced it, testifies to this. On the other hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will find it difficult, before elections, to order IDF withdrawals if no real achievement is received in return.