Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, in response to one of Israel’s key demands in talks about a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Palestinian armed group said it was responding to remarks it attributed to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that Hamas had “expressed its willingness” to lay down its weapons.
Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas one of several key conditions for any deal to end the conflict.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages stalled last week.
In the past few days, Arab governments have urged Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza, after a number of Western countries – including France and Canada – announced plans to recognise a state of Palestine. The UK said it would if Israel did not meet certain conditions by September.
Hamas – a proscribed terror group in the US, UK and EU – said in its statement that it could not yield its right to “resistance and its weapons” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” was established.
The Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Lt Gen Eyal Zamir warned on Friday that there would be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations failed to quickly secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
And on Saturday, the family of hostage Evyatar David issued a statement after Hamas released a video showing him shirtless and emaciated in a dimly-lit tunnel.
They accused Hamas of starving him as part of a propaganda campaign and appealed to the Israeli government and the United States to do everything possible to save him.
REUTERS
