Hamas says it will only hand over weapons to Palestinian authority

Hamas, the Palestinian movement that still controls parts of the Gaza Strip, has said it is ready to hand over its weapons only to a Palestinian authority, according to Deputy Head of the Hamas Political Bureau Musa Abu Marzouk. “Weapons can only be handed over to a Palestinian party, whether it is the Palestinian National Authority or a Palestinian state that will eventually be present in Gaza. They will never be handed over to Israel, structures affiliated with it, or the United States,” Marzouk told RIA Novosti in remarks published on Wednesday. He said the issue of disarming Palestinian groups is political and that Palestinians must have a clear political perspective. He assessed that such a perspective is absent from the Gaza settlement plan proposed by US President Donald Trump. Without political clarity, he said, it could lead to chaos. “Based on the experience of various countries, disarming the forces that control the Gaza Strip means opening the door to civil war or the emergence of chaos,” he said, citing the experience in Iraq when US occupation forces disbanded the Iraqi army and police, which subsequently led to chaos, civil war, and the spread of terrorist groups. In mid-November, the UN Security Council approved a US-proposed resolution supporting Trump’s comprehensive plan to resolve the situation in Gaza. Thirteen of the 15 council members backed the resolution, while Russia and China abstained. The US plan for Gaza includes the establishment of a temporary international administration in the territory, the formation of a peace council led by Trump, and the deployment of an international stabilisation force. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously stated that the continuation of the implementation of Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza conflict remains in question, as both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the terms of the initiative.