Demilitarization ‘central challenge’ of Gaza peace plan, State Dept says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that disarmament meant confiscating all 60,000-plus rifles still held by the terrorist organization’s approximately 20,000 remaining operatives.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

The U.S. State Department told JNS on Wednesday that demilitarizing Hamas remains “a central challenge” to implementing the U.S. peace plan for the Gaza Strip.

The statement came in response to reports that the terror group is seeking to fold 10,000 of its operatives into the new U.S.-backed governing body.

“Hamas must demilitarize as they agreed to do when they accepted the 20-Point Plan,” according to the department spokesperson, who acknowledged that “conversations on how to proceed” were ongoing.

“The demilitarization of Hamas remains a central challenge—one that we are hopeful we can overcome,” according to the statement. “Demilitarization means Hamas can no longer pose a threat to Israel or the people of Gaza.”

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Hamas was seeking to incorporate its 10,000 “police officers” into the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which Washington has described as a transitional technocratic body meant to exclude the terrorist group.

The report, which cited four sources familiar with the matter, noted that many Hamas operatives have already been patrolling Gaza as the terror group is attempting to reassert its grip in areas still under its control.

Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to Reuters‘ request for comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Dec. 30 that disarmament meant confiscating all 60,000-plus rifles still held by the terrorist organization’s approximate 20,000 remaining operatives.

“That’s what disarmament means—got to take all these rifles, take them away from them, and break up those terror tunnels that they have, still hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels,” he stated in the interview.

According to Netanyahu, Hamas uses its weapons not only against the Jewish state but also to intimidate and kill Palestinians who oppose the continuation of its rule in Gaza.

As long as Hamas remains armed, he emphasized, no alternative civilian body would be able to operate.

Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday that the Jewish state would not allow reconstruction in Gaza before “completing the two remaining missions”: the disarmament and the demilitarization of the coastal enclave, including the full removal of all “weapons and tunnels.”

“I hear even now the statements that we will allow the reconstruction of Gaza before demilitarization. That will not happen. I hear that we will bring Turkish soldiers and Qatari soldiers into Gaza. That will also not happen. I hear that I will allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza. That has not happened, and it will not happen,” he vowed.

Earlier this week, the prime minister told Knesset lawmakers that Phase 2 of the Trump plan entailed “not reconstruction” but demilitarization.

According to the prime minister, demilitarization “will happen—as our friend Trump said—the easy way or the hard way, but it will happen.”

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has repeatedly rejected demands that his group disarm, stating on Dec. 6 that “protecting the resistance project and its weapons is the right of our people to defend themselves.

“The resistance and its weapons are the ummah’s [Islamic nation] honor and pride,” the senior terrorist told an anti-Israel summit in Istanbul. He added, “A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron.”