A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian resistance group’s disarmament depends on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the areas occupied in the Gaza Strip and the reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ negotiating delegation, made the remarks on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said talks in Cairo between the resistance group’s leaders and Gaza ceasefire mediators have led to a phased disarmament agreement in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“The issue of weapons is linked to the Israeli withdrawal, the entry of the [Palestinian] National Committee [set to administer Gaza], and reconstruction,” Hamad told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV network.
He also described the negotiations as “difficult and tough,” saying Hamas seeks to secure the best possible outcome while remaining committed to securing the rights of the Palestinian people.
However, he added, Hamas will not implement any part of the deal if Israeli forces fail to fulfill their obligations.
The Hamas official further noted that the Israeli regime will have no role in the disarmament process, which will be carried out by the Palestinian National Committee.
A senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad official also said the movement has serious reservations about the current draft agreement circulated in the media, stating that it does not include the conditions and guarantees sought by Islamic Jihad.
Ali Abu Shaheen, a member of the movement’s political bureau, said Islamic Jihad is seeking a Gaza agreement that eases Palestinians’ suffering while preserving national rights and the resistance, but insists on strict conditions before any deal is finalized.
He said Islamic Jihad has demanded that every commitment made by the resistance be matched by a clear corresponding commitment from Israel, with all provisions of any agreement binding on both sides.
Abu Shaheen added that negotiations are ongoing, stressing that any final agreement must be balanced and equally binding on both parties, rather than placing obligations on only one side.
According to USA Today, a US official described the arrangement as conditional rather than a confidence-building measure.
“This isn’t really a trust deal,” a US official said on Thursday, calling the agreement a “conditions-based deal.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued expanding its operations in Gaza. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the regime intends to extend its control to 70% of the Palestinian territory, although it remains unclear how many troops would participate in the planned International Stabilization Force or whether Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.
On Thursday, Israeli strikes killed at least two children, a woman and three men in Gaza, health officials said.
Supported by the US, Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, but it was compelled to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas two years later after failing to achieve its objectives of eliminating Hamas and freeing captives.
Since the truce took effect, the criminal Zionist regime has kept violating it terms by conducting deadly attacks on Gaza. According to official figures, more than 1,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks.
Israel has killed at least 73,341 Palestinians and injured 174,086 others since the beginning of the genocide, destroying around 90 percent of the territory’s civilian infrastructure.
