A senior Hamas leader, Khaled Mechaal, said on Sunday that the Palestinian terrorist group would not give up its weapons and would reject any form of foreign control over the Gaza Strip, despite calls from the United States for its disarmament.
Khaled Mechaal © Mena Today
A senior Hamas leader, Khaled Mechaal, said on Sunday that the Palestinian terrorist group would not give up its weapons and would reject any form of foreign control over the Gaza Strip, despite calls from the United States for its disarmament.
Speaking at a conference in Doha, Mechaal said that attempts to criminalize what he described as “the resistance,” including its weapons and fighters, were unacceptable. He argued that Hamas’s armed wing was an essential part of what he called the struggle against Israel in the Palestinian territories.
“As long as there is occupation, there will be resistance,” Mechaal said. “Resistance is the right of peoples living under occupation. It is something nations take pride in.”
Mechaal, a former head of Hamas’s political bureau who now oversees the group’s diaspora office, reiterated that Hamas would not submit to external authority in Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli officials, the Islamist movement still has around 20,000 fighters and tens of thousands of weapons inside Gaza.
Under a proposed post-war plan, governance of the territory, devastated by nearly two years of conflict, would be handed over during a transitional phase to a committee of 15 Palestinian technocrats. The committee would operate under the authority of a so-called Peace Council chaired by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is taking a more central role as Israeli and U.S. strikes pick off the Islamic Republic's political leadership, making him a critical figure at a decisive moment.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.
US President Donald Trump stepped back Monday from his threat to target Iran's power grid, announcing a five-day postponement of any strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure, while making clear that the broader military offensive against Iran's military and intelligence sites continues unabated.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
