Hamas has firmly rejected a key element of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Gaza — the group’s disarmament — calling it “out of the question.”
“The proposed weapons handover is out of the question and not negotiable,” a Hamas official told AFP on Saturday.
Trump’s 20-point peace blueprint reportedly includes an amnesty offer to Hamas members who surrender their weapons and allows them to leave Gaza. The U.S. president said the issue of disarmament would be addressed in the second phase of the plan.
The remarks come as a fragile ceasefire continues to hold in Gaza, with a 72-hour deadline looming on Monday for the release of Israeli hostages captured during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.
Analysts say Hamas’s refusal to lay down arms and Israel’s military pullback remain the toughest hurdles to Trump’s initiative — despite cautious optimism that two years of devastating war may finally be nearing an end.
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