Hamas and Islamic Jihad Defy Trump’s Ceasefire, ‘Negotiating with Himself’; No Disarmament Commitment
Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad both refused to commit to disarming this week — brazenly defying the peace plan President Donald Trump brokered and both terror groups accepted— with a senior Hamas official telling Reuters he could not say “yes or no” to surrendering weapons. At the same time, an Islamic Jihad leader claimed on Al Jazeera that disarmament was never even discussed, and Trump is “negotiating with himself.”
The back-to-back rejections expose the fragility of the week-old ceasefire and reveal both terror groups are positioning themselves to remain armed indefinitely while demanding political concessions Israel has refused for decades.
In an interview with Reuters published Friday, Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal was asked directly whether Hamas would give up its weapons. “I can’t answer with a yes or no,” Nazzal responded — a stunning refusal given that disarmament is the central requirement of Trump’s 20-point peace plan that Hamas agreed to sign just days earlier.
When pressed on what disarmament would even mean, Nazzal challenged the very concept. “The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?” he asked Reuters, making clear Hamas views giving up arms not as an obligation but as a hypothetical subject for future debate.
Speaking Wednesday from Doha, where Hamas’s political leadership has resided for years, Nazzal went further — declaring Hamas intends to maintain armed control over Gaza indefinitely. “On the ground, Hamas will be present,” he stated, directly contradicting Trump’s plan requiring the terror group to cede all security functions to a technocratic civilian administration overseen by international monitors. (Read more from “Hamas and Islamic Jihad Defy Trump’s Ceasefire, ‘Negotiating with Himself’; No Disarmament Commitment” HERE)
