Hamas has refuted reports that it is ready to disarm while Israel and Gaza are negotiating a ceasefire, insisting that it has the “national and legal” right to protest Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian organization responded on Saturday to comments made by Steve Witkoff, the special representative of US President Donald Trump, during a meeting with Israeli prisoners’ families in Gaza.
According to an interview with Haaretz, the US envoy told the families that Hamas had stated that it was “prepared to be demilitarized.”
Hamas claimed in a statement that “the resistance and its weapons are a national and legal right as long as the Israeli occupation continues.”
That right, according to the statement, “cannot be relinquished until our full national rights are restored, particularly the establishment of a Palestinian state that is fully independent and sovereign with Jerusalem as its capital.”
One day after visiting a US and Israeli-backed aid distribution facility run by the contentious GHF in Gaza, Witkoff met the captive Israelis’ families in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Prior to the US envoy’s trip, Hamas had criticized the US envoy’s portrayal of a “staged show” intended to deceive the public into thinking the area’s residents were “in the dark” about the situation there, where an Israeli blockade has caused a starvation crisis and sparked international outcry.
Since GHF-operated in the bombarded Palestinian territory in May, more than 1,300 Palestinians have died trying to get food at GHF-run sites, according to a statement released earlier this week.
Despite the more frequent and unfavorable criticism of GHF’s operations in Gaza, the Trump administration has steadfastly supported the organization. Washington announced in June that it had approved funding for GHF in the amount of $30 million.
In addition to the widening international push to recognize a Palestinian state amid the scenes of starvation in Gaza, Witkoff’s remarks on disarmament come at a time when there is a growing hunger in the world.
This week, the United Kingdom made the announcement that it might recognize a Palestinian state as the country’s response to France’s two-day UN conference in New York.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy reiterated earlier that Israel would proceed with recognition if it violated a ceasefire in Gaza, in response to a statement made by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
A seven-page text on reviving a two-state solution to the conflict was also supported by 17 nations at the UN summit, along with the European Union and the Arab League.
Source: Aljazeera
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