Trump administration says phase two of Gaza ceasefire has begun
The US announced the start of the second phase of Gaza’s ceasefire on Wednesday after Palestinian factions agreed to a committee of technocrats to govern the enclave.
“On behalf of President [Donald] Trump, we are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President’s 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction,” US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said in a social media post.
Egypt said earlier on Wednesday that the majority of Palestinian factions had reached an agreement to support a technocratic committee to govern Gaza, opening the path for the second phase.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they agreed "to support the mediators' efforts in forming the Palestinian National Transitional Committee to administer the Gaza Strip, while providing the appropriate environment" for it to begin its work.
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Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian deputy minister for planning, is expected to lead the 15-member committee, which would be overseen by former United Nations Middle East peace coordinator Nickolay Mladenov.
The former Bulgarian diplomat met last week with US officials, along with members of the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Witkoff said phase two of the ceasefire would lead to the “full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, [and] primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel”.
He added that the US “expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage”, and warned of “serious consequences”.
Disarmament and reconstruction
Hamas has said it was willing to cede governing power in Gaza, but insisted it maintain its arms, citing Israel's occupation of slightly more than half of Gaza.
Negotiations on disarmament had included a discussion on “decommissioning” weapons through storage or turning heavier arms over to Arab and Muslim mediators. Hamas asked that fighters be allowed to keep their personal weapons.
Hamas has returned all the living captives and all but one of the bodies of deceased captives taken during the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel. The body of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili is still believed to be in Gaza, according to US and Arab officials.
It's unclear how the US and Israel will disarm Hamas. The Arab and Muslim-majority states that they were counting on to deploy as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping force have been slow to enter Gaza. The country that appears most willing to enter Gaza, Turkey, has been rejected by Israel.
Wealthy Gulf states have also baulked at turning over money to rebuild Gaza without any guarantees that Israel will not resume attacking and destroy the enclave again.
The Trump administration has floated a slew of ideas on how to kickstart and pay for rebuilding. One discussion between the US, Israel and UAE envisions investments from Gaza’s offshore gas reserves going towards rebuilding, Middle East Eye reported.
But that would be a drop in the bucket compared with the $70bn the UN estimates would be the full cost of Gaza’s reconstruction.
The Trump administration’s postwar planning for Gaza is being run out of Tel Aviv by a group of political appointees close to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
One plan is to divide Gaza in half, with Palestinians being screened to live in the Israeli-occupied zone in "alternative safe communities". Another plan that has been floated is to turn Gaza into a luxury development linked to the booming AI industry.
The announcement of a Palestinian committee to govern Gaza could put renewed focus on Israel's entrenched military presence in the enclave.
Under Trump's 20-point peace plan, Israel is supposed to withdraw from all of Gaza, except a narrow buffer zone, as Palestinian security forces and international peacekeepers move in.
The war on Gaza started after Israel responded to the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack by launching a ferocious assault on the enclave, which the UN and human rights experts have called a genocide. More than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in the onslaught.
On 10 October 2025, the US brokered a ceasefire under which Israeli forces pulled back to the "yellow line", allowing them control of more than half of Gaza, roughly 53 percent of the strip.
Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing 439 Palestinians in three months in nearly 1,200 violations, including air strikes, shelling and the demolition of homes.
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