Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal: We will not disarm, give up control in Gaza, or accept intl. oversight

Hamas's Khaled Mashaal: We will not disarm, give up control in Gaza, or accept intl. oversight

JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Hamas will not disarm, give up its weapons, rule the Gaza Strip, or permit external oversight in Gaza, including the idea of an international force, terror leader Khaled Mashaal said during a video address to an Istanbul conference titled "Pledge to Jerusalem" on Sunday.

Israel's Foreign Ministry, sharing footage of Mashaal's address, commented that this constitutes "a direct contradiction of the core terms of the peace plan itself."

"Hamas is making a mockery of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan," the ministry added.

Mashaal: Hamas's weapons are the honor, pride of Palestinian nation

The ministry also shared a video snippet of Mashaal's speech, where the terror leader said that "protecting the resistance project [Hamas's terrorism] and the resistance's weapons is our people's right to defend itself. The resistance and its weapons are the honor and pride of the nation."

Further proof that Hamas is repeatedly violating the ceasefire.

Mashaal is believed to have been one of the key targets in Israel's September strike in Doha, which attempted to target senior Hamas leadership based in the Qatari capital.

His brother, Mofid Abdel Kader Mashaal, was unexpectedly released from the US prison where he was held, Walla reported last December.