Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Friday rejected reports that they had agreed to a disarmament plan. Razi Hamed, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told the Wall Street Journal that the group has not agreed to disarmament, surrender its weapons, or any Israeli involvement in the process. Islamic Jihad issued a statement describing the reports as inaccurate.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Friday rejected reports that they had agreed to a disarmament plan, with a senior Hamas negotiator telling the Wall Street Journal that the group has not consented to any Israeli involvement or weapons surrender, and Islamic Jihad issuing a formal denial.
Razi Hamed, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, told the Wall Street Journal that the group 'did not say disarmament, did not say surrender of weapons, and did not agree to any Israeli involvement.' Hamed emphasized that Hamas would not begin disarming before the last IDF soldier withdraws from the Gaza Strip, and that the organization 'remains committed to its national goals.'
In a separate statement, Islamic Jihad described the reports of an agreement to disarm as 'inaccurate' and said the organization opposes them in the form they were published.
The rejections come as part of a rapidly evolving thread of statements and counter-statements surrounding the U.S.-brokered disarmament framework. Earlier Friday, The Zioneer reported that Hamed told Al Jazeera that disarmament was tied to Israel's exit from Gaza, and that a senior Hamas official said the group had agreed to store weapons, not to disarm. The Board of Peace plan, announced earlier this week, calls for a phased disarmament over 200–300 days, but Israel has yet to comment on the timeline.
The new denials underscore the fragile nature of the diplomatic process, with the terror groups publicly contradicting the narrative of a historic breakthrough.
3 developments
- DevelopingHamas official tells Al Jazeera: group agreed to disarm, but only after full Israeli withdrawal
- DevelopingSenior Hamas official says group agreed to store weapons, not disarm, in response to Trump
- StrongHamas senior official says weapons storage deal is an internal Palestinian matter, not a disarmament
- DevelopingGoldblatt: Hamas deal's disarmament is window dressing, ideology remains
Source and signal
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