Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that Hamas never agreed to disarm, casting doubt on whether the terror group will fulfil a key US and Israeli demand included in the American-backed plan for postwar Gaza.

Abu Marzouk’s statement runs contrary to the insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the terror group give up its weapons in the near future as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Hamas “promised” to lay down its arms, and has threatened the group over the issue.

Abu Marzouk also suggested Hamas has a de facto veto on any appointment to the new technocratic committee set up to run the Gaza Strip, and stressed that Hamas still rules over the part of the enclave that, in accordance with the ceasefire, is not under IDF control.

The comments came during an interview with Al Jazeera amid efforts to execute phase two of the US’s plan for the Strip, which envisions seeing Hamas disarmed and replaced as a governing force. The terror group has previously rejected disarmament.

“We haven’t discussed the weapons yet; no one has spoken to us directly about it. We haven’t spoken with the American side or the mediators on this issue, so we can’t talk about what it means or what the goal is,” Abu Marzouk told the Qatari outlet.

The senior official said a Hamas agreement to hand over its weapons “never happened, not for a single moment did we talk about the surrender of weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering, or disarmament.”

If Hamas was not disarmed in two years of war, “how can they obtain it through negotiations?” he asked.

Abu Marzouk indicated some disarmament was open for discussion, however, saying that at the negotiating table, “we will discuss........

© The Times of Israel