ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - US President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that Hamas is likely surrender its weapons as part of an ongoing US-sponsored peace process with Israel, with the Palestinian militant group having yet to acknowledge the disarmament provision that comprises one of the most sensitive components of the ceasefire agreement.

“A lot of people said they’ll never disarm. It looks like they’re going to disarm,” Trump told a cabinet meeting Thursday.

The US president praised Hamas’s cooperation after the group handed over the remains of the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza on Wednesday. “They did help us with those bodies, getting them back, and that family is so grateful,” he said.

Trump turned to special envoy Steve Witkoff for an update on the Middle East situation. Witkoff voiced confidence that Hamas would agree to disarm.

 “We’ve got the terrorists out of there and they’re going to demilitarize,” he said, adding that the group has “no choice” but to comply. “They’re going to give it up. They’re going to give up the AK-47s.”

Disarmament remains a central pillar of the second phase of the US-backed ceasefire agreement sealed in October. While Hamas maintains that returning the final hostage’s remains demonstrates its commitment to the truce, the group has yet to surrender its arsenal.

Although Hamas has long characterized disarmament as a “red line,” it has recently signaled a potential willingness to turn over its weapons to a Palestinian governing authority.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has also been set up with a goal of taking over governance in the battered Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, Hamas said it was ready to transfer the governance of Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic committee while insisting the key Rafah border crossing be fully reopened within days.

“Protocols are prepared, files are complete, and committees are in place to oversee the handover, ensuring a complete transfer of governance in the Gaza Strip across all sectors to the technocratic committee,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP on Wednesday.

The 15‑member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) — a body of Palestinian technocrats formed under the ceasefire that took effect on October 10 — is tasked with overseeing day‑to‑day governance in post‑war Gaza. The committee will operate under the supervision of the “Board of Peace,” a body chaired by Trump himself.

Led by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, the NCAG is expected to enter Gaza once the Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopens. Qassem said the group insists that Rafah “must be opened in both directions, with full freedom of exit and entry to the Gaza Strip, without any Israeli obstacles.”

Rafah, the enclave’s only passage to the outside world that does not connect to Israel, is a vital route for the movement of people and goods. It has remained closed since Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024, aside from a brief reopening in early 2025. Several attempts to resume operations since then have stalled.

Shaath said last week that Rafah would reopen in both directions in the coming week.

Israel has stated that it would only permit pedestrian traffic through the crossing as part of a “limited reopening” once it had retrieved the remains of the last hostage.

Qassem said Wednesday that Hamas is clearly “committed to the agreement to stop the war on the Gaza Strip,” which was sparked by the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. He added that Hamas has fulfilled all its obligations under the first phase of the deal and is “ready to enter all tracks of the second phase.”