US considering IRA-style disarming plan for Hamas

[Twiglets1]

The US is considering disarming Hamas gradually over a two-year period using a process inspired by IRA weapons decommissioning, it has been reported.

Israeli sources say officials are privately concerned after American negotiators appeared to accept proposals by Turkey and Qatar to disarm Hamas slowly.

Both countries, accused by Israel of supporting the terror group, have stepped up pressure for a clear pathway to the second phase of Donald Trump’s deal, ahead of an expected announcement in Washington this month.

According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel believes the Turkey-Qatar proposals, to which the US has signalled its agreement, for a gradual disarmament process, are in practice a smokescreen to keep Hamas armed.

It follows a statement by Bassem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, on Sunday, that the group would be open to discussing “freezing or storing” its arsenal.

The matter is expected to come to a head when Benjamin Netanyahu visits Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Dec 29.

www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/08/us-consider-ira-style-disarming-plan-hamas/

From the same article:

Details remain unclear

As well as a proposed two-year timeline for ridding Hamas of its weapons – in contrast to Israel’s preferred timeline of a few months – negotiators are also reportedly coalescing around the idea of weapons “decommissioning” rather than straightforward disarming. The precise details in the case of Gaza are not clear.

Under the IRA decommissioning model, which took place over several years following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, weapons were handed over and stored under British supervision.

Under the still undecided Gaza model, Hamas should not have access to its weapons.

However, Israeli officials are voicing concern about any scenario which, in practice, leaves the terror group with access to its guns.

Mr Trump has indicated that he would announce the governing bodies of post-war Gaza within weeks as well as more detail on so-called “phase two” of his deal, after weeks of apparent paralysis.

Is this IRA weapon decommissioning why so many men in East London and Essex ended up with guns and other war weapons in the late 80s/90s?

I don't feel qualified to comment on gun crime in the late 80s/90s @Squishedpassenger but the Good Friday Agreement was only signed in April 1998.

Decommissioning in Northern Ireland was a process in the Belfast Agreement as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. Under the Good Friday Agreement/Belfast Agreement, all paramilitary groups fighting in the Troubles would be subject to decommission. Decommissioning was a defining issue in the effort to negotiate peace in Northern Ireland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decommissioning_in_Northern_Ireland

Ah no this would have been earlier. In East London early 90s, there were loads of guns and grenades going around. People said it was something to do with them taking them from IRA members but the police and military reselling them to criminals.

As reported by the Times of Israel, Hamas is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons as part of its ceasefire with Israel, offering a possible formula to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the US-brokered truce in Gaza.

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s decision-making political bureau, spoke as the sides prepare to move into the second and more complicated phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the enclave.

“We are open to have a comprehensive approach in order to avoid further escalations or in order to avoid any further clashes or explosions,” Naim told The Associated Press in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where much of the group’s leadership is located.

The ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, followed two years of war in Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 abducted.

Asked whether that attack was a mistake, Naim called it an “act of defense.” Hamas leaders have vowed to carry out further October 7 onslaughts in pursuit of the terror group’s avowed goal of destroying Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-ready-to-discuss-freezing-or-storing-its-weapons-says-terror-group-official/?utm_campaign=most_popular&utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_end&utm_content=5