Hamas has rejected parts of the 20-point US peace proposal to settle the ongoing war in Gaza, saying disarming the group would be like a death sentence to the two-state solution.
The delegation of Hamas representatives and Israeli negotiators has arrived in Cairo, but the Palestinian group has made it clear that disarmament is not an option on the table.
To put things into perspective, the venue change occurred due to Israeli action last month when its jets tried to assassinate the Hamas leadership in Doha. The attack triggered massive backlash from both the Arab and international communities.
While there were some unconfirmed sources telling negotiators that Hamas was ready to lay down its arms, the group later confirmed that there was no such statement issued by the group. “What was published is baseless and aims to distort the position and confuse public opinion,” the group said in a statement.
The complexity of the peace deal has failed several times; whenever negotiators thought they had a deal, either of the parties to the conflict would reject the proposal.
Both Qatar and Egypt have been working tirelessly to secure a peace deal and end the war in Gaza, but the scale of devastation and casualties has nearly turned Gaza into a post-apocalyptic scene.
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If two sides agree to a ceasefire and a prisoner swap deal, it would see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons for decades.
While the group did not mention disarmament, a senior Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzook, further elaborated on the matter. The group will only “hand over weapons to the coming Palestinian state, and whoever governs Gaza will have weapons in their hands,” he said.
The Israeli war on Gaza has killed 68,000 people, including children and women, with the majority of the victims being civilians. The conflict has displaced most of the population of around two million.
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