the UK could lead weapon recovery and decommissioning in Gaza.

Britain is capable of disarming Hamas. I would know

I served with the British Army in Afghanistan and Iraq - here’s how we can help keep peace in Gaza

With the euphoria and dust beginning to settle in Gaza and Israel after the tumultuous events of the past few days, Donald Trump appears to have pulled off a remarkable peace deal...
was relatively easy to declare peace in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion and removal of Saddam Hussein, but there was no real plan for what would come next. That led to more years of conflict and the emergence of Islamic State.
The work to maintain the hard-fought peace in Gaza has now begun - and this where the UK can play a key role.
Part of Mr Trump’s 20-point peace plan is the demand for a full disarmament of Hamas. The terror group has not yet accepted this condition, and its failure to do so could give Israel a reason to resume fighting.
Speaking at the Gaza Summit in Egypt on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We, the United Kingdom in particular, I think, can play a part in monitoring the ceasefire. But also decommissioning the capability of Hamas and their weaponry, drawing on our experience in Northern Ireland.”
The Prime Minister was right. The UK could lead the way to find, recover and destroy the Hamas weaponry, which is key to a lasting peace on the strip

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There is much corporate, political, civil and military experience in Westminster and Whitehall, from Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
In Iraq post 2003, I was involved in recovering chemical weapons from the Saddam Hussein stockpile. This was a joint UK and US mission, much of which is still confidential.
People who handed in Sarin nerve agent rockets and artillery shells with chemical weapons in them were paid a bounty by the US, and we blew them up in the desert. America supplied the money; Britain supplied the bang.
A similar combination of British experience of decommissioning and the allure of the dollar may be the tonics to fulfil the momentous task in Gaza.
The Trump plan suggests an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) is required to maintain the ceasefire and begin the complex humanitarian operation to feed the starving, turn the power and water back on, start the clear up, and rebuild and train a local Palestinian police force. This approach, which was missing in Iraq in 2003, is the right one here.
There appear to be a few thousand active Hamas fighters in Gaza with AK47 assault rifles, pistols and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). It is possible that, for a few thousand dollars, these would be handed in to the ISF. Gazans, who have long grown tired of Hamas rule, would likely be persuaded to supply information on weapons caches in exchange for payments.

The hard way would involve search-and-destroy operations by the ISF or, more dangerously, by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Many of these weapons will be hidden in the rubble and tunnels, and no doubt booby-trapped. We did these sorts of operations for years in Afghanistan and Iraq, and only really scratched the surface.
In Northern Ireland, we had the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, but it took until 2010 to decommission most of the weaponry there. We do not, I judge, have the luxury to draw out decommissioning to this extent, but our Northern Ireland experience could be vital to setting up this operation.
Of course, Sir Tony Blair was key to this process in Northern Ireland, and he may also be in Gaza
Once recovered, the weapons from Gaza must be destroyed by a third party. This has to be part of any decommissioning plan. Otherwise, they will filter back into the Middle East and into the hands of Isis, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others - and we will be back to square one.

Violence is already erupting in parts of Gaza where the IDF has withdrawn, underlining how urgently a third-party force and decommissioning are needed.
If we are to do this quickly, the use of hard cash and military might is probably the most pragmatic method, and this is a task the UK and our closest allies in the US are well suited to lead on.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a former British Army officer. He has written about his exploits in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in a memoir, Chemical Warrior.#GazaCeasefire

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