Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, in response to one of Israel’s key demands in talks about a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Palestinian armed group said it was responding to remarks it attributed to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that Hamas had “expressed its willingness” to lay down its weapons.
Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas one of several key conditions for any deal to end the conflict.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages stalled last week.
In the past few days, Arab governments have urged Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza, after a number of Western countries – including France and Canada – announced plans to recognise a state of Palestine. The UK said it would if Israel did not meet certain conditions by September.
Hamas – a proscribed terror group in the US, UK and EU – said in its statement that it could not yield its right to “resistance and its weapons” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” was established.
The Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Lt Gen Eyal Zamir warned on Friday that there would be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations failed to quickly secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
And on Saturday, the family of hostage Evyatar David issued a statement after Hamas released a video showing him shirtless and emaciated in a dimly-lit tunnel.
They accused Hamas of starving him as part of a propaganda campaign and appealed to the Israeli government and the United States to do everything possible to save him.
Witkoff has been visiting Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faces mounting pressure over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
UN agencies have warned there is man-made, mass starvation in Gaza, and have blamed Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies to the territory. Israel has insisted there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and that there is “no starvation”.
Earlier on Saturday, Witkoff met in Tel Aviv with families of Israeli hostages who are still in Gaza.
Footage posted online showed the Washington negotiator being greeted with applause and pleas for help by supporters of the hostages’ families as he arrived in a square that has become known for protests.
Witkoff said peace efforts should focus on ending the conflict and bringing home all the hostages, instead of what he called a partial deal.
As part of Witkoff’s trip, he met Netanyahu on Thursday and on Friday he inspected a widely-criticised aid site in southern Gaza.
Latest figures from the United Nations say at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May.
The majority have been killed by the Israeli military near Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites, the UN says.
Israel has accused Hamas of instigating chaos near the sites and says its troops do not intentionally open fire on civilians.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 60,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, and 169 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
By BBC News
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