By World Israel News Staff

Hamas will not implement those clauses in the US-brokered Gaza peace deal which require the terror group to disarm, a top Hamas official said in an interview, unless a Palestinian state is established and Israel’s presence in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is terminated.

On Sunday night, Khalil al-Hayya, the co-chairman of Hamas’ politburo, spoke with Al Jazeera about the ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas’ failure to return 13 slain hostages, and the future of the Gaza Strip.

Despite pressure from the US on Hamas to disarm, in keeping with the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal, al-Hayya declared that Hamas would not surrender its weapons any time in the foreseeable future, and conditioned any future disarmament on the establishment of a Palestinian state and the end of the “occupation,” without providing details.

Hamas’ “weapons are linked to the existence of the occupation and aggression, and if the occupation ends, these weapons will be handed over to the state,” al-Hayya said.

Al-Hayya denied Hamas is intentionally withholding the bodies of slain hostages from Israel, claiming that the terror group has resolved to return all of the captives’ remains so to not “give the occupation a pretext to renew the fighting.”

The Hamas politburo chief also said that his group has reached an agreement with the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction to lobby for the deployment of United Nations forces in Gaza to supervise and enforce the ceasefire with Israel and to “separate” the two sides.

Under the terms of Hamas’ agreements with the Palestinian Authority, al-Hayya added, the new technocratic committee being formed to administer the Gaza Strip – as per the US-backed deal – will be replaced with a “Palestinian national consensus government” after new elections are held in the Palestinian Authority or a comprehensive rapprochement reached between Fatah and Hamas.

Justifying the invasion of Israel and the massacre of 1,200 people on October 7th, 2023, al-Hayya said the existence of the State of Israel since 1948 was to blame.

“October 7th was a natural result of the occupation’s behavior — which has occupied our lands for 77 years. It Judaizes Jerusalem, causes the fragmentation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”