Hamas will not seek to govern Gaza post-war, leader claims, dismissing disarmament
'Hamas will not seek to occupy, govern, or take an administrative role in the Gaza Strip after the war,' an unnamed Hamas official told Saudi news site Al Hadath, while saying that 'it is impossible to talk about disarmament right now."
"The problem has never been weapons,' the official explained: 'The Palestinian people, along with Hamas, are under unprecedented pressure due to Israeli aggression, and we are dealing with all initiatives and pressures positively to end the aggression."
These comments came after Hamas officials announced that they don't plan to disarm until 'the occupation ends' and 'an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established.'
The official also said that the current method of delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza is insufficient and fails to meet the population's needs. At the same time, he asked for an open, unregulated' border crossing.
"Hamas does not seek to be part of any arrangements concerning the management of the crossings or overseeing the entry of aid," he revealed, and demanded that the management of the crossings be Palestinian-Egyptian, as it was before the Israeli war on Gaza.
Hamas warns Netanyahu that a full Gaza occupation could 'harm the hostages'
In response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, he warned that "any attempt to invade the Gaza Strip will expose the lives of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas to unprecedented danger."
He also compared the hostages to Palestinian security prisoners that Israeli currently holds in prisons, who are mainly detained on terrorist activities charges.
"Hamas understands the feelings of the families of the Israeli prisoners, because every Palestinian home has a prisoner in the occupation's jails," he emphasized.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
39 minutes ago
IDF chief approves new Gaza attack plan, spokesperson says
LONDON -- Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Wednesday approved "the main framework for the IDF's operational plan in the Gaza Strip," according to an IDF spokesperson. "As part of the discussion, IDF operations to date were presented, including an attack in the Zeitoun area that began yesterday," the spokesperson said in a statement. "The central concept for the plan for the next stages in the Gaza Strip was presented and approved, in accordance with the directive of the political echelon," the spokesperson added. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet approved plans for the IDF to seize and occupy Gaza City -- the strip's largest urban area -- as part of an expanded military operation to "demilitarize" the strip and remove Hamas from power. The operation would force the IDF to operate in areas where Israel believes Hamas is holding living hostages. Netanyahu set out "five principles" for the end of the war. "One, Hamas disarmed. Second, all hostages freed. Third, Gaza demilitarized. Fourth, Israel has overriding security control. And five, non-Israeli, peaceful civil administration -- by that I mean a civilian administration that doesn't educate its children for terror, that doesn't pay terrorists and doesn't launch terrorist attacks against Israel." Netanyahu's plans to expand the war have been sharply criticized by the families of the hostages who call it a death sentence for their loved ones. Israel believes 20 hostages are still alive in Hamas captivity -- the terror group is also holding the bodies of 30 killed hostages. Hospitals across Gaza recorded 123 deaths and 437 injuries over the previous 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Wednesday. Among the dead were 21 people killed while trying to collect humanitarian aid, the ministry said, while another 185 people were injured. Eight deaths due to hunger were also recorded across Gaza, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Lebanon's Aoun tells top Iranian official: only state holds arms, no outside interference
BEIRUT (Reuters) -No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, President Joseph Aoun told a senior Iranian official on Wednesday, days after the cabinet approved the objectives of a U.S.-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group. During a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's top security body, Aoun warned against foreign interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect. "The friendship we seek with Iran must be with all Lebanese, not through one sect or component alone," Aoun said, according to a statement from his office. He added that recent language used by some Iranian officials had not been helpful, and reaffirmed that the Lebanese state and its armed forces were solely responsible for safeguarding all citizens. Solve the daily Crossword
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
At least 12 killed as Israeli operation to capture Gaza city ramps up
Palestinians wait for an airdrop of aid in Gaza City on August 7, 2025. The Jordanian military and other air forces began dropping aid from aircraft into Gaza by parachute in an effort to get more supplies into the Palestinian enclave amid a growing humanitarian crisis. File Photo by Mahmoud Issa/UPI | License Photo Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Israeli forces intensified a major aerial assault on Gaza City, killing at least 12 people and causing extensive damage overnight, ahead of a planned military operation to take control of the city, according to Palestinian authorities. The city's residential districts of Zeitoun and Sabra had been hit by airstrikes for the third straight day, sustaining "massive damage to civilian homes," the Hamas-run Gaza civil defense agency said. The fatalities, which occurred on Wednesday morning in an airstrike on a house in the east of the city, were among 39 killed across the Gaza Strip, including 19 people who were seeking humanitarian aid, medical sources told Al Jazeera. The latest casualties came as the foreign ministers of Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and Switzerland joined the European Union in condemning the use of lethal forces at aid distribution sites and calling for urgent action to address famine "unfolding before our eyes" in Gaza. Warning that international NGOs might be forced to leave Gaza any day due to new restrictive registration measures being imposed by Israel, which would further exacerbate the humanitarian situation, the countries said in a statement that "urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation." "We call on the government of Israel to provide authorization for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating. Immediate, permanent and concrete steps must be taken to facilitate safe, large-scale access for the U.N., international NGOs and humanitarian partners," the statement read. They demanded all crossings and routes be opened to facilitate a "flood of aid" into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water and medicine and medical equipment. "We need a cease-fire that can end the war, for hostages to be released and aid to enter Gaza by land unhindered," the statement added. Israel blames the United Nations and Hamas for the humanitarian situation, accusing the world body of refusing to distribute aid trucked into Gaza and Hamas of stealing supplies and reselling them to fund its military operations. The Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff confirmed Monday it was embarking on a new phase in the fighting after the war cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved his plan to seize control of remaining Hamas "strongholds," including Gaza City. "We are at the start of a new stage in the fighting in Gaza. We will do everything to protect the hostages and bring them home," Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in an apparent U-turn after earlier backing a less drastic alternative proposal. Zamir was reported to have opposed Netanyahu's plan on the grounds his forces were exhausted and doubts over IDF's ability to free the hostages through military force alone, pitching instead an incremental strategy involving laying siege to Gaza city. That idea was rejected because it was deemed less effective in achieving the goal of defeating Hamas.
