Hamas will not begin implementing a US-backed agreement on Gaza unless Israel formally accepts the deal and starts fulfilling its obligations, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said on Friday.
Hamad, who has taken part in the negotiations, told Reuters that once both sides approve the final text, Israel must begin implementing the agreement’s first phase.
He said the plan requires the entry of a Palestinian national committee and an international force into Gaza, as well as the dismantling of armed groups backed by Israel.
Hamad also insisted that Israeli forces must withdraw from the Gaza Strip before Palestinian factions are required to hand over their weapons.
“We will hand over the weapons for storage under the responsibility of the Palestinian national committee,” he said.
The comments came after US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Israel would withdraw from Gaza as Hamas was disarmed. Trump had earlier announced that the Board of Peace, which he chairs, had reached an agreement on the issue.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed factions operating in Gaza, disputed reports of a final agreement, saying media accounts of a deal between the factions and Israel were inaccurate and that the group had reservations about the proposal in its current form.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said after a meeting of its political bureau that Palestinian factions had already offered everything required to bring an end to the Israeli offensive.
