Hamas Willing to Surrender Weapons Only to Palestinian Authority, Not Israel

The Palestinian movement Hamas, which still controls parts of the Gaza Strip, has declared it is ready to surrender its weapons only to a Palestinian authority, according to Deputy Head of Hamas’s 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 emerge in Gaza. The weapons will never be surrendered to Israel, any entity affiliated with it, or the United States,” Marzouk told RIA Novosti in a report published on Wednesday (17/6). He argued that the issue of disarming Palestinian groups is political and requires a clear Palestinian political perspective, which he believes is absent from the Gaza resolution plan proposed by US President Donald Trump. Without political clarity, he warned, such a move could lead to chaos. “Based on the experience of various countries, disarming the forces controlling the Gaza Strip means paving the way for civil war or the emergence of chaos,” he stated. Marzouk cited the experience in Iraq, where the dissolution of the Iraqi army and police by US occupation forces led to chaos, civil war, and the proliferation 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 fifteen council members voted in favour, while Russia and China abstained. The US plan for Gaza includes the establishment of an interim 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 Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza conflict remains uncertain, given that both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the initiative’s terms.