Hamas rejects disarmament, expulsion from Gaza amid ceasefire talks

ISTANBUL

The Palestinian group Hamas said late Tuesday that it rejects any efforts to disarm it or remove it from the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that any future arrangements for the territory must be decided through a national Palestinian consensus.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem called Israel’s objective to expel the group from Gaza “silly psychological warfare.”

“The removal of the resistance from Gaza or its disarmament is unacceptable,” he said in a statement.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to begin talks next week on the second phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, contingent on Hamas's removal from Gaza and the territory’s demilitarization.

Qassem said that “on Saturday, we will witness a major achievement for the Palestinian people with the release of prisoners serving life sentences and long-term sentences from Israeli prisons.”

Hamas also announced Tuesday that it plans to hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday and release six live captives on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israel estimates that 73 of its captives remain in Gaza, while it holds thousands of Palestinian detainees in its prisons, where reports from Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups have documented cases of torture, starvation and medical neglect, leading to many deaths.

Qassem affirmed Hamas’s readiness to proceed with the second and third phases of the agreement, saying: “We are prepared both politically and, on the ground, to implement all terms of the deal.”

He added that Hamas is willing to conduct the second phase in a single round, “as long as it leads to a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”

He also noted that Hamas agreed to increase the number of hostages being released “in response to a request from mediators and to demonstrate our commitment to fully implementing the agreement.”

So far, a total of 1,135 Palestinian prisoners have been freed from Israeli prisons. Israel is scheduled to release 502 more prisoners this week.

The Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement took effect on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,300 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.