Hamas will refuse to disarm: Meshaal
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Thursday rejected any attempt
to disarm his Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza
as demanded by Israel ,
saying the group's weapons were "sacred".
According to APF, "The weapons of the resistance are sacred and we will
not accept that they be on the agenda" of future negotiations with Israel , Meshaal told a news conference in Doha where he lives in
exile.
"The issue is not up for negotiations. No one can
disarm Hamas and its resistance," he said of the Palestinian fighters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas
achieved none of its demands by the time a "permanent" ceasefire came
into effect at 1600 GMT Tuesday.
Under the deal, Israel
will ease restrictions on the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction
materials into Gaza ,
and it extended the offshore area open to Palestinian fishermen.
But talks on crunch issues such as Hamas's demands for a
port and an airport and the release of prisoners, as well as Israel 's calls to disarm militant groups, will
be delayed until negotiators return to Cairo
within the coming month.
Both Israel
and Hamas have hailed the truce as a "victory".
The seven-week conflict claimed the lives of at least 2,140
Palestinians, more than 70 percent of them civilians according to the United
Nations, and 64 soldiers and six civilians on the Israeli side.
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