Senior Hamas official: We never agreed to disarm, no one’s raised it with us directly
Moussa Abu Marzouk says, despite White House claims, that the group didn’t talk ‘for a single moment’ about giving up its weapons, stresses Hamas regime still in control in Gaza
Moussa Abu Marzouk
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that Hamas never agreed to disarm, casting doubt on whether the terror group will fulfil a key US and Israeli demand included in the American-backed plan for postwar Gaza.
Abu Marzouk’s statement runs contrary to the insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the terror group give up its weapons in the near future as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Hamas “promised” to lay down its arms, and has threatened the group over the issue.
Abu Marzouk also suggested Hamas has a de facto veto on any appointment to the new technocratic committee set up to run the Gaza Strip, and stressed that Hamas still rules over the part of the enclave that, in accordance with the ceasefire, is not under IDF control.
The comments came during an interview with Al Jazeera amid efforts to execute phase two of the US’s plan for the Strip, which envisions seeing Hamas disarmed and replaced as a governing force. The terror group has previously rejected disarmament.
“We haven’t discussed the weapons yet; no one has spoken to us directly about it. We haven’t spoken with the American side or the mediators on this issue, so we can’t talk about what it means or what the goal is,” Abu Marzouk told the Qatari outlet.
The senior official said a Hamas agreement to hand over its weapons “never happened, not for a single moment did we talk about the surrender of weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering, or disarmament.”
If Hamas was not disarmed in two years of war, “how can they obtain it through negotiations?” he asked.
Abu Marzouk indicated some disarmament was open for discussion, however, saying that at the negotiating table, “we will discuss which weapons will be removed, what will be removed, how they will be removed.”
His account contradicted that of Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who said that senior Hamas officials told him and fellow Trump aide Jared Kushner, hours before the ceasefire was inked in October, that the terror group wanted to disarm.
Hamas has never publicly agreed to disarm
At least publicly, however, Hamas has never agreed to lay down its arms.
Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza explicitly says that Hamas must give up its weapons, but the Hamas statement endorsing the plan contained significant conditions and did not directly mention disarmament.
Rather, the group said at the time that “other issues mentioned in President Trump’s proposal” — an apparent euphemism for disarming — would “be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework.”
Hamas, Israel and the mediating countries also signed a separate, one-page document in Sharm el-Sheikh the day before the ceasefire began. But that text focused specifically on the first phase of the Trump program, primarily the hostage-for-prisoners swap, while the terror group’s disarmament is envisioned as part of phase two.
Phase two — which has officially started, after the recovery this week of the body of Ran Gvili, the last slain Israeli held hostage in the Strip — calls for the day-to-day governance of Gaza to be handed from Hamas to the newly formed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG.
The 12-member, technocratic committee is headed by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath. Several other bodies will oversee Gaza under the umbrella of the Board of Peace, a group of world leaders inaugurated by Trump last week.
Abu Marzouk stresses: Hamas still the governing force in Gaza
Israel’s defense establishment believes that Hamas — which currently controls just under half of the Strip — will soon formally relinquish authority to the NGAC. But an Israeli security official said Thursday that, de facto, the terror group will remain in control of that part of the enclave, at least for the short term.
In his interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Marzouk stressed that Hamas is currently running Gaza, presumably referring to that part of the Strip.
“The movement (Hamas) has restored order to the Gaza Strip to serve the Palestinian people and preserve their security,” he told the Qatari network.
Abu Marzouk hinted that Hamas has a veto over the NGAC, emphasizing that no one can enter Gaza without Hamas’s consent. At the same time, he said Hamas will facilitate the committee’s work and “provide security.”
The comments came after Netanyahu said in a press conference on Tuesday that the mission to disarm Hamas must come before the reconstruction of the devastated Strip.
“As I agreed with President Trump… there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way, or it will be done the hard way, but in any case, it will happen,” Netanyahu said of disarmament, using a formulation he has employed previously, and specifying Gaza must be demilitarized before reconstruction begins.
Trump said Monday, after Israeli forces returned Gvili’s remains: “Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised.”
A US official, briefing reporters this week, reiterated the Trump administration’s stance that Gazan operatives who agree to give up their weapons will be granted amnesty.
The official added: “They signed an agreement… If they decide to play games, then obviously President Trump will take other actions.”
The war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. On October 10, 2025, a ceasefire agreement took effect that mostly stopped fighting and set into action a hostage-prisoner exchange.
The hostage crisis ended on January 26, 2026, with the recovery of the body of Gvili. His return marked the first time since July 20, 2014, that no Israelis, living or dead, were held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
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