The old warning against putting the cart before the horse is an apt one for the tiff over Gaza between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump. Political calculations on both sides animate the issue. Yet the Trump administration’s announcement that it is beginning phase two of the president’s cease-fire agreement ignores a key component of the accord: Unless Hamas disarms and its rule over Gaza ends, progress is impossible.

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump announced the founding of a Board of Peace, over which he would preside, to deal with Gaza and beyond. He also named members of the Gaza Executive Board. Headed by a former United Nations Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, it would include Turkish, Qatari, Egyptian, and Emirati officials, as well as the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and a former British premier, Tony Blair. 

Answering to that board is a group of Palestinian “technocrats,” who would run Gaza’s day-to-day affairs. Headed by an engineer, Ali Shaath, it includes several Palestinian Authority members, as well as some who have links to Hamas. The announcement “was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office writes in an X posting. The premier’s detractors claim he is mostly motivated by the upcoming Israeli election. 

Unidentified Washington officials hint darkly that in two years of war the Israeli army has treaded water, rather than decisively winning. Enter Mr. Trump, who quickly reached a cease-fire and forced the return of all living hostages. Now Gaza is “our show,” one official tells Axios. Mr. Netanyahu “will do his politics and we will keep moving forward with our plan. He can’t really go against us.” That is partially true, but fails to complete the picture.

Surely Mr. Netanyahu has his own political considerations. His opposition to Palestinian Authority members who would run the Strip isn’t universal in Israel. Yet nearly all Jerusalem politicians are warning against allowing Hamas-supporting countries anywhere near Gaza. Mr. Trump might see the Doha and Ankara leaders as “friends.” Israelis note that Qatar and Turkey host Hamas leaders who plot future atrocities.

Turkey’s foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, for one, has said that disarming Hamas, if at all, will be done only after other parts of the plan are in place. For Israelis, that sounds like allowing Hamas to keep its weapons. “Yesterday we were informed that the council that will govern Gaza will include Turkey and Qatar, supporters of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,” a fierce Bibi opponent, Moshe Yaalon, said on Saturday. “This is a strategic failure.”  

As far as Washington is concerned, Israel has agreed to Mr. Trump’s plan, which was also endorsed by the UN Security Council. So Mr. Netanyahu has little to say about its implementation. Yet moving to the plan’s second phase hinges on returning to Israel “all” hostages, living and dead. The body of one Israeli soldier, Ran Gvili, remains inside the Strip, to the chagrin of his family. That concern is overshadowed by a much larger issue that remains unresolved. 

Three Gaza organs were fleshed out over the weekend. The crucial International Stabilization Force, though, remains unmanned. No volunteers are eager to join a force tasked with disarming Hamas. The announced structure is designed to rehabilitate Gaza economically. Such endeavors have failed before precisely because terrorists with guns were intent on genocide. Mr. Netanyahu won’t undermine Mr. Trump’s plans. An armed Hamas will.