Hamas’s armed wing has rejected calls for the group to disarm, saying the demand is an attempt to continue Israel’s genocide, according to Al Jazeera, and In a televised statement on Sunday, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said that raising the issue of weapons ‘in a crude manner’ would not be accepted.

Disarmament Demands Seen as Obstacle to US Peace Plan

The issue of Hamas relinquishing its weapons is a major obstacle in talks to implement US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, aimed at ending Israel’s war on the besieged territory. Since the US- and Qatar-brokered ‘ceasefire’ took effect in October, more than 705 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Hamas has told mediators it will not discuss disarmament without guarantees that Israel will completely withdraw from Gaza, three sources told the Reuters news agency last week. ‘What the enemy is trying to push through today against the Palestinian resistance, via our brotherly mediators, is extremely dangerous,’ Obeida said.

Hamas Condemns Disarmament as Genocide Attempt

He said the disarmament demands were ‘nothing but an overt attempt to continue the genocide against our people, something we will not accept under any circumstances.’ It was not immediately clear whether the comments amounted to a formal rejection of the US-backed plan, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October 2023, has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and injured at least 172,000 others. Obeida urged mediators to pressure Israel to fulfill its commitments under the first phase of the Trump plan before any discussion of the second phase can take place.

Hamas Condemns Israel’s Actions in Lebanon and Iran

‘The enemy is the one who undermines the agreement,’ he said. There was no immediate comment from Israel on his remarks. Obeida also addressed Israel’s role in the US-Israel war on Iran, condemning it for launching strikes on Iran ‘in the midst of the deception of negotiations, with full collusion and conspiracy with the United States.’

The US had been involved in talks with Iran over its nuclear programme in the weeks before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28. In Iran, more than 2,000 people have been killed and at least 26,500 others injured since the war began.

Obeida also condemned Israel’s renewed offensive ‘against sisterly Lebanon,’ which it launched on March 2 after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. Israel’s assault on Lebanon has killed more than 1,400 people and displaced over 1.2 million, according to Lebanese authorities.

Obeida commended Iran, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis for their continued strikes against Israel. Hamas’s spokesman also condemned the Israeli parliament’s passage of a new death penalty law that only applies to Palestinians, urging people in the West Bank ‘to seek, by every possible means, to liberate the [Palestinian] prisoners’ held in Israeli jails.