Hamas aims to keep grip on Gaza security and as for disarmament, 'it depends,' senior official says

DOHA — Hamas intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period, a senior Hamas official told Reuters, adding that Hamas' disarmament depends on factors yet to be determined, voicing two positions that reflect the difficulties facing the American plan to secure an end to the war.

Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal also said the group was ready for a cease-fire of up to five years to rebuild devastated Gaza, with guarantees for what happens afterwards depending on Palestinians being given "horizons and hope" for statehood.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview from Doha, where Hamas politicians have long resided, Nazzal defended the group's crackdown in Gaza, where it carried out public executions on Monday. There were always "exceptional measures" during war, he said, adding that those executed were criminals guilty of killing.

Pressure to disarm

While Hamas has broadly expressed these views before, the timing of Nazzal's comments demonstrates the some of obstacles obstructing efforts to cement a full end to the war in Gaza, days after the first phase of the cease-fire was agreed.

They point to big gaps between Hamas' positions and U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, ahead of negotiations expected to address Hamas' weapons and how Gaza is governed, which Hamas insisted in its Oct. 4 response to Trump's proposal is a subject to be discussed not with the group exclusively but "within a unified Palestinian national framework."

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Asked for comment on Nazzal's remarks, the Israeli prime minister's office said Israel was committed to the cease-fire agreement and continued to uphold and fulfill its side of the plan. Israel has killed at least 28 people in Gaza since agreeing to the cease-fire, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera. Eleven members of one family were killed for crossing the "yellow line" in Gaza City, an elusive demarcation that Palestinians without access to electricity or internet are not informed of.

"Hamas is supposed to release all hostages in stage one," the Israeli prime minister's office told Reuters. "It has not. Hamas knows where the bodies of our hostages are. Hamas are to be disarmed under this agreement. No ifs, no buts. They have not. Hamas need to adhere to the 20-point plan. They are running out of time."

Hamas has handed over at least 10 of the 28 bodies of hostages and has made it clear that time would be required to locate the bodies still buried under the rubble of Israeli bombardment. Nazzal said the group had no interest in keeping the remaining bodies of deceased hostages seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks and confirmed Hamas is having technical difficulties recovering them. Thousands of Palestinians are also suspected of being buried under the rubble, which now covers most of the Strip.

A senior Turkish official said last week that Turkey would take part in a joint task force along with Israel, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to locate the hostage's bodies. Hamas released all living hostages on Monday and Nazzal said the phase two negotiations would begin soon.

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Trump's Sept. 29 cease-fire plan called for Hamas to immediately return all hostages before committing to disarmament and ceding governance of Gaza to a technocratic committee overseen by an international transitional body.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the plan, saying it would dismantle Hamas' military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza would never again pose a threat to Israel.

Asked if Hamas, which is under intense pressure to disarm, would give up its arms, Nazzal, speaking on Wednesday, said: "I can't answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you're talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?"

He added that issues to be discussed in the next phase of negotiations, including weapons, concerned not only Hamas but other armed Palestinian groups, and would require Palestinians more broadly to reach a position, reiterating points made in Hamas' initial statement regarding the cease-fire.

Asked for its response to Nazzal's remarks, the White House directed Reuters to comments made by Trump on Thursday.

"We have a commitment from them and I assume they're going to honor their commitment," Trump said, without elaborating on the issue of it disarming or its interim presence on the ground.

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Goals of elections, 'hope' for Palestinians

On Tuesday, however, Trump said he had communicated to Hamas that it must disarm or it would be forced to. Trump has also suggested Hamas was given temporary approval for internal security operations in Gaza, and has endorsed Hamas killing members of gangs, many of whom are backed and even armed by Israel.

Noting Trump's remarks, Nazzal said there was an understanding regarding Hamas' presence on the ground, without specifying among whom, indicating it was necessary to protect aid trucks from thieves and armed gangs.

"This is a transitional phase," he said. "Civilly, there will be a technocratic administration as I said. On the ground, Hamas will be present."

After the transitional phase, there should be elections, Nazzal added. According to him, mediators had not discussed with the group an international stabilization force for Gaza, which was proposed in Trump's cease-fire plan.

Hamas' founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although the group's leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel regards this position as a ruse.

Nazzal said Hamas had suggested a long-term truce in meetings with U.S. officials, and wanted a truce of at least three to five years to rebuild the Gaza Strip. "The goal isn't to prepare for a future war."

Beyond that period, guarantees for the future would require states to "provide horizons and hope for the Palestinian people," he said. "The Palestinian people want an independent Palestinian state."

Reporting by Ahmed Jadallah and Andrew Mills; Additional reporting by Imad Creidi in Doha