A single number may define the near-term fate of Trump’s Board of Peace and the Gaza ceasefire it is designed to support: 60,000. That is the approximate number of automatic rifles that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says Hamas must surrender as part of any complete disarmament. It is a number that illustrates the vast scope of the disarmament challenge the board must somehow facilitate.
Israel’s definition of demilitarization is comprehensive, extending from heavy weapons like rocket-propelled grenades all the way down to individual rifles. Netanyahu’s 60,000-rifle demand captures that comprehensiveness and signals that Israel is not looking for symbolic gestures but for a genuine end to Hamas’s military capacity.
Hamas’s response has been predictably conditional. Senior officials have said their security forces need to retain some weapons to maintain law and order during any transition. Ideas under discussion include placing weapons in sealed depots under outside supervision, or surrendering heavy arms while keeping some handguns for policing. Whether Israel or the US would accept such arrangements is far from certain.
The Board of Peace convened its first meeting Thursday in Washington against this backdrop. Trump claimed $5 billion in reconstruction pledges and thousands of peacekeeping personnel from member countries — commitments that have not been documented publicly. But without progress on the 60,000 rifles, reconstruction and governance transition cannot begin, according to Netanyahu’s explicit conditions.
Countries contributing to the proposed International Stabilization Force have made clear they will not participate in Hamas disarmament. Indonesia, which is training up to 8,000 soldiers for the force, confirmed its forces would not engage in disarmament operations. The task falls to no one — and until it does, the board’s broader ambitions remain suspended.