According to US President Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip, "all military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning."
Since the announcement of the plan, however, Hamas officials have repeatedly emphasized that their Iran-backed terror group, which started the war by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, has no intention of laying down its weapons. Hamas evidently wants to hold onto its weapons so that it can continue its Jihad (holy war) against Israel and ensure its own continued control of the Gaza Strip.
As far as Hamas is concerned, Trump's plan is apparently nothing but another temporary ceasefire with Israel that will allow it to rearm and regroup. Hamas does not believe in any peace process with Israel. Its primary goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and destroy Israel.
On October 17, Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal told Reuters that Hamas intends to maintain security control in the Gaza Strip during an interim period. Hamas, he said, was ready for a ceasefire of up to five years to rebuild the Gaza Strip, with guarantees for what happens afterwards, depending on Palestinians being given "horizons and hope" for statehood.
Asked if Hamas would give up its arms, Nazzal said:
"I can't answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you're talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?"
He added that issues to be discussed in the next phase of negotiations, including weapons, concerned not only Hamas but other armed Palestinian groups, and would require Palestinians more broadly to reach a position.
On October 16, another member of Hamas's political bureau, Abdul Jabbar Saeed, rejected the idea of disarming his group:
"Disarming the Palestinian resistance under the current circumstances without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and without a government to govern the Gaza Strip, will inevitably lead to total chaos and create a major and dangerous vacuum that will be difficult to confront."
"If we achieve a sovereign and independent Palestinian state," Saeed added, "that preserves the rights of the Palestinian people, then these weapons will be transferred to the Palestinian state and its army."
Saeed dismissed the idea of deploying international forces in the Gaza Strip:
"Trump raised the idea of the presence of international forces, but this does not necessarily have to be the formula agreed upon by the Palestinians among themselves, or by the Palestinians and the Arabs. Hamas absoluletly does not accept a mandate, nor does it accept military rule by others. We will not replace the military rule of the Israeli occupation with another foreign rule; this formula is unacceptable to us. Any formula proposed for governing the Gaza Strip under so-called international trusteeship or a High Commissioner, similar to the old colonial model, is unacceptable to Hamas or all Palestinian resistance factions."
He also rejected the idea of excluding Hamas from playing a future role in the governance of the Gaza Strip. "Completely excluding Hamas from the scene is not possible," he stressed.
"We are a movement rooted in the Palestinian people. We have our presence, our strength, and our existence. We won democratic elections in 2006. In fact, we have a majority among the Palestinian people. Therefore, how can we be excluded from determining the fate of the Palestinian people and from making decisions regarding the future of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause, when we are an integral part of it, whether you like it or not? Hamas is an integral part of the Palestinian people, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or even in the diaspora outside the country. Its future is linked to the future of the Palestinian people. It cannot be separated from it, nor can it be excluded, eliminated, or excluded, given that it is an ideology linked to resistance and liberation. Therefore, the movement will continue to exist and contribute to the future of the Palestinian people, and no one will be able to exclude it from the scene, even if it accepts not to rule in the Gaza Strip during the next phase."
An unnamed Hamas official was quoted on October 11 as saying that "the issue of handing over weapons is out of the question and is not on the table."
On October 1, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper quoted a source close to Hamas as saying that the terror group was seeking to amend some provisions of Trump's plan, especially the disarmament clause and the withdrawal of its fighters from the Gaza Strip.
"Consultations are ongoing around the clock within the group's leadership in Palestine and abroad, and with mediators," the unnamed source said, adding that four meetings were held in Doha with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, in the presence of Turkish officials.
The involvement of Qatar and Turkey in the Gaza Strip is problematic because the two countries have always been supportive of Hamas. Both countries continue to provide shelter to several Hamas leaders and act as if they are its attorneys, by constantly defending the terror group while condemning Israel.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain seem to be unhappy with the Trump administration's increased reliance on Qatar and Turkey.
The Saudis and Emiratis have reportedly notified the Trump administration that they would downgrade their level of engagement in the implementation of the Trump plan. Referring to Qatar, they warned that increasing the influence of "countries that destabilize the region" would derail the momentum of prosperity Trump has touted.
A Saudi source warned that Qatar was expected to help Hamas maintain its presence and return at an opportune moment.
Notably, in 2017, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE decided to cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar over the Gulf state's support for Islamist terror groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.
Saudi Arabia said it made the decision to cut diplomatic ties due to Qatar's "embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region," including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State (ISIS), and groups supported by Iran in the kingdom's eastern province of Qatif.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry accused Qatar of taking "an antagonistic approach" toward Egypt and said "all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups failed."
Bahrain, for its part, blamed Qatar's "media incitement, support for armed terrorist activities, and funding linked to Iranian groups to carry out sabotage and spreading chaos in Bahrain" for its decision to cut diplomatic ties.
Egypt does not appear to take a firm stand on the issue of disarming Hamas. Instead of insisting that Hamas lay down its weapons in compliance with Trump's plan, they are now talking about the possibility that the terror group would "freeze" its weapons.
Diaa Rashwan, director of the Egyptian State Information Service, claimed that Hamas had agreed to a freeze on its weapons, not disarmament. He said that the Proposed arms freeze comes within the framework of the truce the movement had previously proposed with Israel, which ranges in duration from five to ten years. Rashwan pointed out that Hamas's weapons would not be handed over to Israel or any non-Arab party. It is worth noting that the Trump plan does not talk about a "freeze" of Hamas's weapons.
Palestinian columnist Dr. Ramzi Odeh pointed out that Hamas's recent actions, including the deployment of militiamen and the extrajudicial executions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, prove that the terror group has not the slightest intention of laying down its weapons.
"Hamas, particularly inside the Gaza Strip, is unwilling to disarm or hand over power to any other authority, especially the Palestinian Authority," Odeh wrote. "This is confirmed by the statements made by field commanders to the Gazan public, who emerged from their tunnels after a long period of bombardment. They are absolutely unwilling to hand over power, even if Hamas abroad wanted to. They are determined to obtain more wealth and more power. If Hamas field leaders insist on this behavior, it is unlikely that the Gaza Strip will move to advanced stages of reconstruction, development, and security."
Bassam Barhoum, another Palestinian columnist, warned against Hamas's "deceit." Hamas, he said, "continues its attempts to control the Palestinians. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas presents itself as a believer in democracy. Yet, it carried out a bloody and brutal military coup [against the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip in 2007], killing 800 Palestinians. All of Hamas's battles, under the pretext of resistance, have only benefited Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the regional powers allied with them (Iran and Qatar). By shedding Palestinian blood, Hamas sought to present itself once again as it did in 2007: as the entity capable of suppressing and brutalizing with an iron fist. Today, Hamas is prepared to drag the Palestinian people into a civil war if that serves its interests and those of the Muslim Brotherhood."
Anyone who believes that Hamas will voluntarily give up its weapons is living in a dream world. For the terror group, this would be tantamount to suicide. The terms "demilitarization" and "deradicalization" do not exist in Hamas's lexicon.
Worse, anyone who believes that Qatar and Turkey will force Hamas to dismantle its military infrastructure is also living in fantasy land.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
