Trump Says Hamas Will Disarm, Blanche Faces GOP Pushback, Economic Outlook

July 31, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Trump Claims Hamas Will Disarm, But Both Sides Disagree on Timing

President Trump announced last night that he had reached a breakthrough in efforts to disarm Hamas in Gaza, claiming that "as disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw" and that an international stabilization force would then work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for the territory. But a senior Hamas official told NPR that the group would only give up its weapons if Israel withdraws from Gaza first — the exact opposite sequence. The condition that Hamas disarm was already a key part of the U.S.-brokered peace deal from nine months ago, but execution has been stalled as the Israeli military has continued pushing into Gaza, killing more than 1,000 people there since the ceasefire took effect. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump in Washington earlier this week, has not commented on the announcement.

The Political Context Behind Trump's Gaza Gambit

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of Up First from NPR

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 Trump Says Hamas Will Disarm, Blanche Faces GOP Pushback, Economic Outlook
2 (00:31) **Trump Claims Breakthrough on Hamas Disarmament** - President Trump announces that Hamas will disarm, but the order of operations remains disputed.
3 (04:44) **Political Context of the Gaza Announcement** - Trump may need a win on Gaza as the Iran conflict shows no signs of ending and public opinion turns.
4 (06:06) **Todd Blanche's Attorney General Nomination in Limbo** - Two Republican senators demand guarantees about a Justice Department settlement benefiting Trump before they will support Blanche.
5 (09:49) **Economic Growth Slowed in the Second Quarter** - GDP grew at an annual pace of 1.5%, driven by consumer spending and AI investment despite higher energy costs.
6 (12:27) **Housing Market Remains a Drag on Growth** - Mortgage rates are climbing again, stalling any potential recovery.
7 Standout Quotes

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Ryan Lucas Kathy Bostjancic

Show Notes

President Trump claims to have reached a breakthrough in efforts to disarm Hamas in Gaza. Hamas says it will only give up its weapons if Israel withdraws first. On the domestic front, Trump floated the idea of temporarily withdrawing his nominee for attorney general until two Republicans holdouts leave office. And a new report from the Commerce Department shows that economic growth slowed in the second quarter.

Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Kate Bartlett, Anna Yukhananov, Rafael Nam, HJ Mai and Ally Schweitzer.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Zac Coleman.

And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

(0:00) Introduction
(02:28) Trump Says Hamas Will Disarm
(05:57) Blanche Faces GOP Pushback
(09:53) Economic Outlook

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy