Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al-Hayya announced on Saturday that the movement is prepared to hand over its weapons to the “state” that will administer the Gaza Strip in the future, but this remains conditional on the end of the Israeli occupation.
Al-Hayya said in a statement to the media, “Our weapons are tied to the existence of occupation and aggression, and if the occupation ends, these weapons will be transferred to the state.”
His office clarified to Agence France-Presse that he was referring to “a future sovereign Palestinian state”.
He added, “Weapons are still under discussion with the factions and mediators, and the agreement is still in its early stages. We accept international forces as separation forces, border monitors, and overseers of the ceasefire in Gaza.”
Separately, senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal reiterated his rejection of all forms of guardianship over the Gaza Strip, stressing that Palestinians are the ones who govern themselves.
This came during his speech at the conference “Al-Ahd Lil-Quds: Towards Renewing the Will of the Ummah in Confronting Liquidation and Genocide” held in Istanbul.
Meshaal said that “Israeli thuggery seeks to subjugate the region to its agenda, and this is a real danger”.
He confirmed that the time has come “for the Ummah to decide on liberating Jerusalem and restoring the sanctities”.
Meshaal added, “We reject all forms of guardianship and mandate imposed by the occupation over Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Palestine.”
He stressed that “the Palestinian is the one who governs himself and determines his own affairs. There is no guardianship, no mandate, and no reoccupation. Our people need no protection and no guardianship. They look forward to independence, not mandate. This is our land, our homeland, and our destiny, and we are the ones who decide.”
The Palestinian factions, including Hamas, have repeatedly declared their rejection of any guardianship over the Gaza Strip, considering such proposals as attempts to impose field arrangements that bypass the national will.
Meshaal also stressed the need to “protect the resistance project and its weapons, save the West Bank from Judaization, settlement expansion, and displacement, and stand by our people”.
He affirmed that Israel “will never be a friend, nor a helper to anyone, nor a part of the regional system”.
Regarding the continuation of Israel’s suffocating blockade on Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement, Meshaal said, “The harsher image of the genocide has stopped, but starvation, blockade, closed crossings, the prevention of aid, and the punishment of people are still ongoing.”
He added, “We must mobilise all efforts and resources for Gaza, ensure the cessation of the war, restore vitality, provide relief, shelter, medical treatment, reconstruction, break the blockade, open the crossings, and reject all attempts of displacement and re-engineering of the Strip according to Israeli schemes.”
The ceasefire agreement was expected to end a genocidal war that left more than seventy thousand martyrs and around one hundred and seventy-one thousand wounded in Gaza, most of them children and women.
However, Israel violates the agreement daily, resulting in the martyrdom of three hundred and sixty Palestinians and the injury of nine hundred and twenty-two others since it came into effect on 10 October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Wednesday.
Israel also continues to prevent the entry of sufficient food and medicine into the besieged Gaza Strip, where about 2.4 million Palestinians live in catastrophic conditions.
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