Palestinian gunmen in the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp on Aug. 21, 2025. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
An operation to disarm the Beddawi and Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camps in northern and southern Lebanon, respectively, has been scheduled to start on Saturday, the Lebanese-Palestinians dialogue committee chairperson, Ramez Dimachkieh announced on Friday. The operation is scheduled to last for three consecutive days.
Dimachkieh told al-Hadath news that dialogue with Hamas was ongoing in the hopes that its branches in Lebanon would also hand over their weapons. "We hope that the issue will be closed by the end of the month," he added.
Hamas’ Lebanon branch released a statement in April saying it would be willing to enter a dialogue with Lebanese authorities toward its disarmament, so long as the discussion also included Palestinian rights. However, no agreement has been reached on its disarmament in particular, and no guarantees for Palestinian rights in Lebanon appear to have been made as part of the process.
There are an estimated 222,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Thousands live in poverty-stricken and overcrowded refugee camps, do not have the right to own land and are banned from working in more than 30 high-paying professions, including as doctors, pharmacists, engineers, lawyers, and even as taxi drivers or tour guides.
The disarmament of the camps began in August at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut's southern suburbs. This was followed by Lebanese Army operations south of the Litani River to disarm the Rashidieh, Bass and Burj al-Shemali camps, all located near Sour.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Lebanon in mid-May, voicing his support for the disarmament of all Palestinian movements in Lebanon after meetings with President Joseph Aoun.
