JERUSALEM (VINnews) — What is Hamas planning? Does it truly intend to disarm as part of a ceasefire with Israel? These questions were candidly addressed by Khaled Mashal, a senior Hamas official living abroad, at a conference held by the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar.

Participants in the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha included Khaled Mashal, Mustafa Barghouti, Hani al-Masri, and Liqaa Makki. The panel discussed the “resistance project,” “Israeli occupation plans,” the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and plans for the future.

Among the speakers was, as noted, senior Hamas figure Khaled Mashal, who claimed that through the efforts of the mediators, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, it is possible to reach what he described as a “guarantees-based approach.”

According to the speakers, the destruction in post-war Gaza exposes a deeper failure, Arab and global alike. Mashal, Barghouti, al-Masri, and Makki argued that the war reflects a collapse of governance, the erosion of regional solidarity, and an international order that rewards power over law.

Referring to the future, Mashal said: “After the last war in Gaza, some expect that over the next ten to fifteen years Gaza will direct its weapons toward Israel.” However, he emphasized that “the danger comes from Israel, not from Gaza, because Gaza needs a long time to recover. The presence of international forces on the border to keep the peace and prevent clashes between the sides, that is the guarantee.”

According to his remarks at the conference, the Hamas terror organization does not intend to hand over its weapons, but rather “not to display them.” The duration of the ceasefire proposed by Hamas would be between five and ten years, in order to give Gaza time to recover.

Mashal said at the conference: “Hamas proposed a ceasefire or truce of between five, seven, or up to ten years. This is a guarantee: there will be no use of Hamas’s weapons, and they will not be displayed publicly. The three mediating countries -Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey- which have deep relations with Hamas, can serve as guarantors.”

Mashal further stressed that the problem is not that Hamas and the Palestinian ‘resistance forces’ (terror organizations) would violate the ceasefire. “The problem is Israel,” he claimed, “which wants to take the Palestinian weapons and hand them over to militias in the Strip in order to create chaos.”