[News] ‘Weapons are our right’: Hamas rejects disarmament

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 ‘Weapons are our right’: Hamas rejects disarmament

The resistance group’s statement was a response to US envoy Steve Witkoff
claiming Hamas was ready to surrender its arms

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

AUG 3, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/weapons-are-our-right-hamas-rejects-disarmament
(Photo credit: Mohammed Saber/Shutterstock)

Hamas said in a statement <https://t.me/thecradlemedia/40481> on 2 August
that it will not surrender its weapons, as a response to claims made by US
envoy Steve Witkoff about the resistance movement’s willingness to disarm.

"In response to reports circulated by some media outlets quoting US envoy
Steve Witkoff, claiming that the movement has expressed readiness to
disarm, we reiterate that resistance and its weapons are a national and
legal right as long as the occupation persists,” the Palestinian resistance
movement said on Saturday.

“This right is affirmed by international laws and conventions, and it
cannot be relinquished except upon the full restoration of our national
rights, foremost among them the establishment of an independent, fully
sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," it added.

Witkoff met with the families of Israeli captives on Saturday.

"We have a very, very good plan that we're working on collectively with the
Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ... for the
reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war," he told
them, according to a video viewed by *Reuters*
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-envoy-tells-israeli-hostage-families-he-is-working-plan-end-gaza-war-2025-08-02/>
.

The US envoy also said that Hamas was “prepared to disarm” to end the war.

Hamas’s response was not its first rejection of Israeli demands that the
resistance gives up its weapons.

Israel has recently doubled down on its demand for Hamas to surrender
weapons. Hamas says its arms are a “red line.”

Talks
<https://thecradle.co/articles/no-confirmed-progress-in-gaza-ceasefire-talks-report>
for a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip have
faltered.

“The chance of retrieving the Israeli [captives from Gaza] through an
agreement does not currently appear on the horizon,” an Israeli political
source told Channel 12 last week.

Hamas has continued to demand a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and
firm guarantees for a permanent ceasefire. Yet Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said countriesthat fighting will resume
after captives are exchanged if the Palestinian resistance movement refuses
Tel Aviv’s disarmament terms.

Arab League nations, Turkiye, and other  issued a joint statement
<https://thecradle.co/articles/arab-states-call-on-hamas-to-disarm-give-up-governance-in-gaza>
at the UN session in New York on 29 July, calling on Hamas to disarm and
give up governance of Gaza.

The UN meeting began on Monday, framed as an effort to revive the idea of a
two-state solution.

Hamas has previously signaled a willingness to give up governance in the
strip, and has called for a joint effort among Palestinian factions to
reach a solution for post-war Gaza.
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