US President Donald Trump said Hamas has agreed to give up its weapons, urging Israel to halt its bombing of the Gaza Strip as efforts continue to advance the next phase of a US-backed peace plan.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said his administration had maintained communication channels with Hamas and that the Palestinian group had agreed to disarm.
“We have channels of communication with Hamas, which has agreed to lay down its arms,” Trump said, adding that Israel “should not be bombing Gaza.”
Hamas welcomed Trump’s remarks, with spokesman Hazem Qassem describing the US president’s call for Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza as confirmation of Washington’s commitment to the ceasefire process.
The group called on Trump to increase pressure on the Israeli government to comply with agreements already reached and move toward implementing the second phase of the US president’s Gaza peace plan.
The comments came after Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday. The meeting followed a rare encounter between Kushner and the head of Hamas in Cairo a day earlier as Washington sought to push negotiations forward.
Netanyahu earlier this month publicly rejected a US-backed arrangement under which Hamas would surrender its weapons in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister has said Israeli forces will withdraw only after Hamas and other armed groups in the territory are fully disarmed.
Netanyahu’s governing coalition has also been facing declining support in Israeli opinion polls ahead of a general election scheduled for October 27.
Diplomats cited in reports have said major Israeli concessions over Gaza are unlikely before the election.