Weapons Buy-Back Program and Plan to Disarm Hamas 

Hamas will have the opportunity to turn in their weapons, according to Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East.  

“We’re going to have a weapons buyback program,” Witkoff told “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl. “This is all linked to amnesty and disavowing violence if Hamas people want to stay there. We are well on top of it.”   

Following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that is based on the Trump administration’s 20-point plan for an end to the war in Gaza, President Donald Trump has said multiple times that Hamas will disarm, whether willingly or by force.  

Phase one of the ceasefire is well underway and phase two is expected to include the complete disarmament of Hamas and a permanent end to the war that began following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead and another 251 hostage in Gaza. The 20 remaining living hostages who were still being held in Gaza were released a week ago. The remains of 12 deceased hostages have been returned to Israel, but 16 remain in Gaza.  

Speaking with the “Boundless Insights” podcast, Jonathan Conricus, former IDF spokesperson, explained that the release of the 20 living hostages removes the “sword” over the head of Israel. Now, if Hamas violates the ceasefire and mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey decide they won’t work to implement the various phases of the peace deal, Israel no longer has to worry about strikes that would kill hostages.  

“Up until now, Israel was prevented from using various military tactics when it came to tunnel fighting because of the fear that we may kill or hurt our own hostages that were being held in tunnels by Hamas. That is no longer the case and tunnels, going from strategic assets of Hamas and the main enabler of their fighting capabilities, they will become death traps,” Conricus said.  

The ceasefire came under threat over the weekend when Hamas terrorists killed two Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. In response, Israel launched multiple strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. Hamas claims the attack on the Israel Defense Forces was carried out by rebel forces and was not a formal Hamas-directed operation.  

Trump confirmed Sunday that the ceasefire is still in place.  

During a nearly one-hour interview with “60 Minutes” alongside Witkoff, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who helped to broker the peace deal between Israel and Hamas, said while phase one of the agreement was “very hard,” the second phase “could potentially be even harder.” 

“Right now … the agreement is that an international stabilization force will build a local Palestinian police force and there will be an agreement reached between them on how to create a secure and viable Gaza,” Kushner said.  

Money designated to reconstruct Gaza won’t be “going in” until there are “terror-free zones” in Gaza, Kushner said, “because nobody wants to invest this money into a place where it’s just going to get destroyed again by terrorism.”  

Work has begun to determine how to organize the stabilizing force in Gaza, according to Kushner.  

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