News- Middle East: Hamas says it will not disarm until an independent Palestinian state is established with al-Quds as its capital.

The resistance group issued a statement on Saturday in response to reports citing US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s “claims that the movement has expressed willingness to disarm.”

Hamas said that the resistance and its weapons “represent a national and legal right as long as the occupation remains in place—a right recognized by international charters and conventions.”

“We will never relinquish this right until all our national rights are restored, foremost among them the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem (al-Quds) as its capital,” Hamas added.

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip stalled last week.

On Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt—mediators in the ceasefire efforts—endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps toward a two-state solution on the condition that Hamas hand over arms to a Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas a key condition for any deal to end its genocidal war on Gaza, but Hamas has repeatedly said that it will never lay down its weapons. 

Witkoff's Gaza visit nothing but 'staged show'

In a separate statement, Hamas slammed Witkoff’s visit to a controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, calling it a “staged show” aimed at whitewashing Israeli crimes and misleading public opinion.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to West Asia visited the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site on Friday.

He claimed the purpose of the visit was to give Trump “a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.”

The Palestinian resistance movement said the visit was designed to provide “political cover” for Israel’s “starvation campaign and continued systematic killing of defenseless children and civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

The visit took place at a GHF distribution site in Rafah, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food, including many near GHF-operated locations, according to the United Nations.

“Witkoff’s misleading statements, coupled with the dissemination of targeted propaganda images portraying peaceful aid distribution, are belied by the facts on the ground—where over 1,300 starving civilians have been gunned down by the occupation army and employees of the inhumane GHF,” Hamas said.

The group also reiterated that the Trump administration is “fully complicit in these starvation crimes and the ongoing genocide in Gaza" and called on Washington to “assume its historical responsibility by exposing the crimes" being committed by the Israeli regime and working to end the aggression.

On Friday evening, Trump said he had spoken with Witkoff following his visit. “He had a great meeting with a lot of people. The primary meeting was on food… getting the people fed, and that’s what we want," the US president said.

Witkoff’s trip has drawn outrage from Palestinians, who said the visit was a media stunt meant to deflect attention from the US role in enabling Israeli war crimes.

The US and Israel created the GHF to bypass the United Nations’ central role in aid distribution in Gaza. The UN has refused to cooperate with the program, calling it a militarized aid model that fosters displacement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in June that the US-backed plan is “inherently unsafe” and warned: “It is killing people.”

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to obtain food, including hundreds near GHF sites, according to the UN.

Source: Press TV