A top Hamas political official, Khalil al-Hayya, has given a condition on which the body will lay down its arms.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the official said the militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its arms and convert into a political party if an independent Palestine state is established along pre-1967 borders.
The comments came amid a stalemate in months of talks for a cease-fire in Gaza. The idea that the group would disarm seemed to be a significant concession by the militant group, which is officially committed to destroying Israel.
However, it is unlikely that Israel will agree to such a suggestion because it has vowed to destroy Hamas. The war began on October 7, and Israel’s current leadership is fiercely opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in the 1967 war.
Al-Hayya said, “All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have become political parties, and their defending fighting forces have become the national army.”
