Hamas will never agree to disarm

 by Susan Quinn

The demands for Hamas to disarm in Gaza seem to have taken on a life of their own. So many writers insist that Hamas must do it, but they have so far refused. President Trump demands the same, but his 20-Point plan seems to be languishing on the sidelines. So where do the negotiations stand now? Some background first will help to understand the situation.

The history of the peace plan shows a mixed response from the parties involved. In spite of Trump and Netanyahu declaring that Hamas has agreed to disarm, Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk denies having had that discussion. In fact, he denies that any such discussion ever took place, with either U.S. or Israeli leadership, or with the mediators.

President Trump laid out a detailed plan in September 2025, but Hamas’s careful response did not, in particular, include disarmament. Meanwhile mediators from the newly established “Board of Peace” moved forward in trying to actualize an agreement:

Mediators meeting in Cairo said in an interview with NPR that they had given Hamas a formal proposal to lay down its weapons. The proposal calls for Hamas and all other terrorist groups in Gaza to hand over all weapons, making an emerging governing authority responsible for all the arms.

The proposal is said to call for a comprehensive framework to ensure the ‘complete handover’ and ‘full decommissioning’ of arms belonging to Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, and that if Hamas accepted the proposal, it would ensure large-scale reconstruction of Gaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has also emphasized that full disarmament must take place before any efforts to rebuild Gaza begin.

Observers have voiced concerns that the longer it takes for an agreement to be reached, the more opportunity the mediators will have to weaken the final plan, just to finish the job.

Over the past several months, Hamas has continued to tyrannize the Palestinian population, implementing price controls and taking control of food and other humanitarian resources meant for the people. They have likely used this time to restock their weapons and munitions. Hamas also has agreed that Palestinians other than Hamas can govern in Gaza, but insists it must be included in that governance. To complicate matters further, Hamas does not want to complete the plan until the war in Iran has ended. This decision is probably just one more stalling tactic.

No matter how many times observers insist that an agreement must be reached that will include Hamas disarming, it’s extremely unlikely that will occur. At no point has Hamas complied with that demand or acknowledged a willingness to do so. Truth be told, Hamas is not interested in stopping the conflict until Israel is destroyed; it also doesn’t care how many Palestinians, including Hamas, die in the effort.

Netanyahu and Trump have both weighed in on the current situation agreeing that Hamas must go, reluctantly acknowledging Gaza will likely go with it:

‘As I agreed with President Trump… there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way, or it will be done the hard way, but in any case, it will happen,’ Netanyahu said of disarmament, using a formulation he has employed previously, and specifying Gaza must be demilitarized before reconstruction begins.

Trump said Monday, after Israeli forces returned the remains of the last hostage: ‘Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised.’

Gaza will become a quarry of rubble and devastation.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/hamas_will_never_agree_to_disarm.html