Hamas Rejects Disarmament, Blocks Phase 2 of Trump Ceasefire Plan

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Sunday that the terror group will not surrender its weapons or accept foreign intervention in Gaza, rejecting the next stage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Speaking at the 17th Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, Mashaal framed disarmament demands as an attempt to weaken Palestinians and facilitate their destruction by Israel, as Washington presses to advance Phase 2 of the ceasefire.

“As long as our people are under occupation,” Mashaal said, “talk of disarmament is an attempt to turn our people into victims, to make their elimination easier and to facilitate their destruction at the hands of the Israeli side, which is armed with every international means of warfare.”

Mashaal rejected efforts to frame Hamas’s weapons in the context of accountability for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel, during which around 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were taken hostage.

“Questions about the resistance’s weapons are being raised forcefully. Some want to place it in the context that whoever carried out Oct. 7 must be cornered and made to pay the price,” he said. “As those who participated in the resistance, we must not accept this.”

Mashaal described armed struggle as a legitimate response to Israeli control, saying that “resistance is the right of occupied peoples.” He praised the Oct. 7 attack, claiming it restored the Palestinian cause to the center of regional and international attention and made it impossible to bypass.

“The massacre returned the Palestinian cause to the forefront of regional and international attention, and it is no longer possible to bypass it; resolving it has become a necessity,” Mashaal said.

He again vowed to defeat Israel, calling the state “an existential threat and danger to us and the region.”

Addressing postwar governance plans for Gaza, Mashaal rejected proposals backed by the United States and Israel to establish a transitional Palestinian authority that would exclude Hamas. He dismissed the idea of outside oversight or administration of the Strip.

“We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form,” Mashaal said. “Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule.”

Mashaal also praised Qatar for hosting the forum and supporting the Palestinian cause, saying Doha “sympathizes and has an honorable stance on the issue,” while accusing Israel of waging a campaign against the Gulf state.

The forum itself had already drawn criticism from Israel earlier in the week. The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Thursday sharply criticized the Al Jazeera Forum, describing it as a “gathering of jihadists and their support staff.”

Mashaal’s remarks stand in direct contradiction to statements by Trump, who has repeatedly asserted that Hamas agreed to disarm as part of his ceasefire initiative. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 21, Trump warned that Hamas terrorists would be “blown away very quickly” if they failed to give up their weapons under the plan’s second phase.

Trump’s 20-point proposal explicitly requires Hamas to surrender its arms, but Hamas leaders have consistently denied agreeing to such terms. Senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera on Jan. 28 that the group had never discussed disarmament.

“Not for a single moment did we talk about surrendering weapons,” Abu Marzouk said, adding that the issue was never raised in negotiations.