Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshal rules out surrendering weapons or accepting foreign governance in Gaza, defying US and Israeli demands.
DOHA: A senior Hamas leader has firmly rejected demands for the group to disarm or accept foreign governance in Gaza.
Khaled Meshal stated the Palestinian Islamist movement would not surrender its weapons nor allow external intervention in the territory.
“Criminalising the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept,” Meshal said at a conference in Doha.
He asserted armed resistance is a legitimate right against occupation.
The comments push back against key elements of a US-brokered ceasefire, now in its second phase, which envisions Gaza’s demilitarisation and an Israeli withdrawal.
Hamas has repeatedly stated disarmament is a red line, though it has suggested it could transfer weapons to a future Palestinian authority.
Israeli officials estimate Hamas still maintains about 20,000 fighters and 60,000 Kalashnikov rifles in Gaza.
A Palestinian technocratic committee has been established to assume day-to-day governance in the devastated strip.
This committee operates under the US-initiated “Board of Peace,” launched by President Donald Trump last month.
The board’s expanding mandate has raised concerns it could become a rival to the United Nations.
An advisory Gaza Executive Board, including US envoys and former British prime minister Tony Blair, also supports the technocratic committee.
Meshal urged the Board of Peace to adopt a “balanced approach” facilitating reconstruction and aid for Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.
He simultaneously warned Hamas would “not accept foreign rule” over Palestinian land.
“We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form,” Meshal said.
“Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine.”