Hamas opposes 'foreign guardianship' in Gaza, refuses to disarm

The terrorist organizations – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – opposed “foreign guardianship” over the Gaza Strip in a joint statement on Friday, according to Reuters. The three militant groups in Gaza emphasized that local governance of the Strip is a “purely internal Palestinian matter.”

Hamas, severely weakened after two years of war with Israel, said that it would be willing to give up political control of Gaza in exchange for an end to the war it began with the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the group has the right to armed resistance.

"No one can deny us the right to resistance by all means, including armed resistance," Naim told Sky News in an exclusive interview on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced that the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be involved in an interim post-war administration in Gaza. Naim said the decision made him “very sad” and opposes any involvement by Blair, arguing that “Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and maybe others around the world have bad memories of him.”

Blair is considered an experienced diplomat and served as the special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015.

Hamas stated on its official Telegram channel that it will “continue resistance” until it achieves “self-determination, and the establishment of a fully sovereign, independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza use terms such as “self-determination” and “resistance to occupation,” which resonate with some left-wing audiences in the West. However, Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, and its charter openly calls for the elimination of the Jewish state and the killing of Jews worldwide.

Extremist anti-Israel activists in the United States and other Western nations have embraced Hamas’ militant rhetoric against the Jewish people.

The Palestinian Youth Movement, which is reportedly connected to the designated terrorist group PFLP, vowed on Thursday that it would continue organizing its anti-Israel rallies until “liberation.”

“Gaza will rise, the struggle never dies,” the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) stated. The group pledged to continue working “to lift the siege, liberate all prisoners, end the occupation, and free our land. From the river to the sea.”

On Thursday, PYM activists wearing green Hamas bandanas rallied outside Congress in Washington, D.C., shouting “Globalize the Intifada,” a reference to a violent uprising. More than 1,000 Israelis were murdered during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.

Hamas has been under significant pressure from Turkey, Qatar and Egypt to accept Trump’s Gaza peace plan. There have reportedly also been divisions between Hamas’ political leadership in Qatar and its remaining military leaders in the Gaza Strip. Hamas officials based in Doha, Qatar, have reportedly agreed to demands that the group disarm and relinquish control. However, its military leaders in Gaza have indicated they intend to retain certain “defensive” capabilities, including assault rifles.