The Prime Minister's Office said Monday evening that it held "in-depth and constructive" discussions with the Gaza Peace Council and agreed to establish two working groups. One group will focus on the disarmament and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, which Israel and the Peace Council are determined to complete before any reconstruction. The second group will address sanitation, clean water and public health for Gaza residents, issues that also affect Israeli citizens, according to the English-language statement.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) released an English-language statement Monday evening specifying that the disarmament and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip must be completed before any reconstruction begins. The statement, issued shortly after the PMO's initial announcement of two working groups at 17:47, signals an effort to communicate the agreement to international stakeholders with explicit conditions.
At 17:47 Jerusalem, the PMO announced the establishment of two working teams: one dedicated to the demilitarization of Gaza, and a second addressing sanitation, clean water, and public health for Gaza residents—issues the office said also impact Israeli citizens near the border. The new English-language statement confirms that Israel and the Gaza Peace Council are "determined to complete" the disarmament process "quickly before any reconstruction in Gaza," a position that had not been stated in English earlier.
The broader context of these developments traces back to the U.S.-led Gaza Peace Council (Board of Peace), which finalized a comprehensive disarmament agreement announced by President Trump on July 31, as The Zioneer reported. The Council's 15-point roadmap, which both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have agreed to, includes a phased handover of military assets. The PMO's engagement with the Peace Council on working groups marks the first direct Israeli operational step coordinated with the Council since the framework was announced.
The statement did not provide a timeline for the working groups' deliverables, nor did it detail how the disarmament process will be verified or who will compose the teams. Further specifics on the sequencing of the work and the role of the International Verification Force are expected to emerge in the coming days.
2 developments
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Source and signal
- Open-source intake