Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed Hamas’ resignation from its “Emergency Committee” Monday, which has been governing the Gaza Strip since the October ceasefire, as a ruse designed to prevent the disarmament of the terrorist organization.
“Hamas’s trick is simple,” he warned on X. “Hamas’s apparent willingness to ‘make room’ for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament.”
The foreign minister explained that Hamas aims to implement Hezbollah’s plan in its own jurisdiction.
“Hamas seeks to replicate the ‘Hezbollah model’ in Gaza: a technocratic administration would be responsible for garbage collection and other municipal services, while Hamas would remain the dominant military force,” he wrote. “As long as Hamas retains its weapons, any civilian government will of course operate as Hamas dictates.”
Sa’ar said that this model would mean that Hamas would get to maintain the status quo.
“This would allow Hamas to continue oppressing the Palestinian people in Gaza, while pursuing its jihadist war against Israel,” he asserted, saying Israel would not give an inch on the original conditions set by the Board of Peace.
“Israel insists on the full implementation of the Trump plan, with its core principles being the disarmament of Hamas and all other terrorist organizations, and the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,” he declared.
The Board of Peace is also not buying this apparent gesture of goodwill from Hamas, whose ostensible purpose is to demonstrate the group’s willingness to cooperate with the peace plan, saying they’ll believe it when they see it.
“Our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza,” the board said in a statement.
Hamas had announced earlier in the day that it had dissolved its “Emergency Committee,” the group that has been controlling the Gaza Strip since the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The terrorist organization said the Emergency Committee had resigned as a prerequisite for transferring governance of the Strip from Hamas to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
Hamas insisted, however, that its civil servants will continue serving in that capacity, saying it had taken all the steps needed to complete the transfer of authority.