It's Time for Hamas to Fully Disarm

President Donald Trump’s 20-Point Comprehensive Peace Plan to End the Gaza Conflict has charted the way forward for peace in the Middle East.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 established the Board of Peace, the International Stabilization Force, the National Committee on the Administration of Gaza, and the funding mechanisms to pay for those operations and reconstructions.

The United States and its partners have made substantial progress leading the implementation of Resolution 2803, since it was adopted in November. Over the last five months, assistance has surged into Gaza, and every single Israeli hostage – both living and sadly deceased – has returned home.

More than 4,000 trucks of humanitarian and other critical goods have entered Gaza each week for the past 16 weeks. Food assistance reached 2.1 million people in January, which is 100 percent of the population. The Rafah crossing, the Allenby Bridge, and Hussein Bridge have all reopened.

But there is still a long way to go, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz. “Those who live in the region need cleaner, more durable housing and health services. We are working daily with our Israeli counterparts and other partners across this body to strengthen humanitarian access into and inside of Gaza.”

Last month, during the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, President Trump announced that Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Qatar pledged more than $7 billion in support.

This support will enable the Board of Peace and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza – the NCAG – to keep working towards a better future for Gaza.

“We have to move Gaza beyond 100 percent dependency on aid,” stressed Ambassador Waltz. “We know that with this plan, if we can all come together to implement it, that Gaza can become a destination for investment and real growth and change this culture of dependency.”

But the success of the NCAG depends on Hamas decommissioning its weapons. “The Palestinians of Gaza must be freed from the butchers and barbarians that have long oppressed them with guns and drones and bombs and tunnels,” declared Ambassador Waltz.

The U.S. is calling on the international community to pressure Hamas to immediately disarm for the sake of lasting peace. “Anything short of that mark, the full demilitarization of Gaza, undermines Gaza’s recovery. It undermines Israel’s security, and it undermines the stability for the region,” said Ambassador Waltz.

“Let us all give our full support,” he said, “to the institutions established by this committee, to the Board of Peace, to the International Stabilization Force and to the NCAG to ensure the swift and successful triumph of President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan for the sake of your children and mine.”