Interviews
Hamas agreed to disarm and left Palestine one armed faction
As of July 30 Hamas held less than 30% of Gaza under the Trump-backed deal while 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank remained under Israeli occupation.
In an episode posted Aug. 18, 2026, Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan tied Gaza diplomacy to armed power across Palestine. As of July 30 Hamas controlled less than 30% of the Gaza Strip and had agreed to a Trump-backed disarmament plan that would mean turning in weapons in hopes Israel would withdraw from Gaza.
Trump and donor countries that had paid him about $1 billion would then move toward control of the strip through a Board of Peace led by a seven-member executive suite including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jared Kushner. As of Aug. 8 the Israeli government had rejected Trump's border plan and sought even less Palestinian representation than Kushner and others wanted, even as all signs pointed to Hamas losing power in Gaza and leaving the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank as the only armed faction in Palestine with the capacity to defend and represent Palestinians on the ground, where 2.5 million people live under occupation that varies across Areas A, B, and C.
Callaghan aired an interview recorded about six months earlier in Ramallah with Brig. Gen. Anoir Rajab, who leads the Palestinian Security Forces and led the authority's incursion into Jenin. He said Rajab speaks harshly about groups opposed to the Palestinian Authority and that the exchange reads differently after Hamas moved toward the Trump-backed Gaza deal.
He cited Kushner's description of Gaza as "waterfront property that could be very valuable once all the Palestinians are gone," and Kushner's view that Israel should do its "best to move the people out and then clean it up." The through-line on the tape was who would hold arms in Palestine if Hamas exited Gaza under the proposed agreement on disarmament and withdrawal; he pointed listeners to earlier Channel 5 episodes on West Bank zones and stopped before a full walk through Rajab's statements.
Source video: Andrew interviews the General of Palestine’s Security Forces