Palestinian group says proper to withstand Israeli occupation ‘can’t be relinquished till full nationwide rights restored’.
Hamas has rejected stories that it expressed a willingness to disarm throughout Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Israel, stressing that it has a “nationwide and authorized” proper to confront the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian group responded on Saturday to current remarks purportedly made by United States President Donald Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff, throughout a gathering with family members of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
Citing a recording of the talks, Israeli information outlet Haaretz reported that the US envoy instructed the households that Hamas mentioned it was “ready to be demilitarised”.
However in a press release, Hamas mentioned “the resistance and its weapons are a nationwide and authorized proper so long as the [Israeli] occupation persists”.
That proper “can’t be relinquished till our full nationwide rights are restored, foremost amongst them the institution of a completely sovereign, impartial Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”, it mentioned.
Witkoff met the Israeli captives’ households in Tel Aviv on Saturday, in the future after he visited a US and Israeli-backed support distribution website run by the controversial GHF in Gaza.
Greater than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed attempting to get meals at GHF-run websites because the group started working within the bombarded Palestinian enclave in Could, the United Nations mentioned earlier this week.
Hamas had earlier slammed Witkoff’s go to as a “staged present” aimed toward deceptive the general public concerning the state of affairs in Gaza, the place Israel’s blockade has spurred a hunger disaster and fuelled international condemnation.
However the Trump administration has stood firmly behind GHF regardless of the killings and rising international criticism of the group’s operations in Gaza. In June, Washington introduced that it accepted $30m to help GHF.
Witkoff’s feedback on disarmament come amid a widening worldwide push to recognise a Palestinian state amid the scenes of hunger in Gaza.
The UK introduced at a two-day United Nations convention in New York this week that it could observe France in recognising a Palestinian state in September.
Echoing an earlier assertion by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Overseas Secretary David Lammy mentioned London would proceed with recognition if Israel didn’t meet sure circumstances, together with implementing a ceasefire in Gaza.
The UN assembly additionally noticed 17 international locations, plus the European Union and the Arab League, again a seven-page textual content on reviving a two-state resolution to the battle.
The textual content referred to as on Hamas to “finish its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with worldwide engagement and help, in keeping with the target of a sovereign and impartial Palestinian State”.
