The disarmament of the terrorist group Hamas, as foreseen in American President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, is “out of discussion”, a leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement told AFP this Saturday, 11.
“The proposal to hand over the weapons is beyond discussion and is non-negotiable,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity. Trump stated that the disarmament of Hamas would be addressed in the second phase of the peace plan.
In an interview with Estadão last week, Michael Milshtein, a specialist in Palestinian Studies and head of the Palestine Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University, had already ruled out such a possibility. “Hamas says that God is with those who are patient. They know that now is a time for containment, but they will return in the future,” he said.
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The ceasefire agreement between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into force at 12pm local time (6am Brasília time) this Friday, the 10th.
Israeli Army troops began to reposition themselves inside Gaza to the lines agreed in the truce agreement after approval of the ceasefire by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office during the early hours of the morning.
Thousands of people who had gathered in Wadi Gaza, in the center of the Palestinian territory, in the morning, began walking north after the Army’s announcement. Before that, Palestinians reported intense shelling in parts of Gaza.
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The approval of US President Donald Trump’s plan by the Israeli cabinet marks an important step towards ending a devastating two-year war that has destabilized the Middle East.
Next phases
Israel must receive back all hostages still in the Gaza Strip. According to the Army, of the 48 kidnapped, 20 are considered alive. This was the most urgent point of the plan for the Israelis and Americans.
This initial agreement between Hamas and Israel addresses only some of the 20 points of a plan proposed by Trump last month, and some of the most difficult issues appear to have been left for a future phase of negotiations. Among them, who would govern the post-war Gaza Strip and whether, to what extent and how Hamas would lay down its weapons.
Trump reiterated in a meeting on Thursday that disarmament will be part of the second phase of the Gaza deal. “I’m not going to talk about that because you more or less know what phase two is. But… there will be disarmament,” Trump told reporters. The president added that there will also be withdrawals of Israeli forces.
Israelis and Palestinians celebrated the announcement of the ceasefire on Wednesday night, 8. Even with many details still to be agreed, many expressed relief at the progress.
In the so-called Kidnapped Square, in Tel-Aviv, Israelis sang, danced and raised Israeli and American flags. Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, told reporters that she wants to tell her son that she loves him. “If I have a dream, it’s to see Matan sleep in his own bed,” she said.
