Hamas said on Saturday that it will not be disarmed unless an independent Palestinian state is established – a new response to a fundamental Israeli requirement to end the war in Gaza.
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel to ensure a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza War and a hostage release agreement ended last week in an impasse.
On Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt, mediators of the efforts of ceasefire, endorsed a statement from France and Saudi Arabia that outlined the steps to a solution of two states to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and claiming that, as part of this, Hamas should give their weapons to the Palestinian authority, supported by the West.
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In a statement, Hamas – who has dominated Gaza since 2007, but has been militarily hit by Israel in war – said he could not give in his right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent and totally sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as his capital” is established.
Israel considers Hamas’s disarmament a fundamental condition for any agreement to end the conflict, but Hamas has repeatedly claimed that he is not willing to abandon his weaponry.
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Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described any future independent Palestinian state as a platform to destroy Israel and said that, therefore, security control over Palestinian territories should remain with Israel.
He also criticized several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for having announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in response to the devastation of Gaza caused by the offensive and the blockade of Israel, calling the reward measure for Hamas’s conduct.
The war began when militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
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Israel’s subsequent military attack Gaza turned much of the enclave into a vacant lot, killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel and Hamas exchanged accusations after the latest round of negotiations ended in an impasse, with persistent gaps on issues such as the extension of Israeli military retreat.
(Report of hatem maher, jaidaa taha and ahmed tolba)
