Hamas says terrorists trapped behind Israeli lines won't surrender despite telling US it will disarm

The group of Hamas fighters trapped on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line in the tunnels of Rafah in southern Gaza will not surrender to Israel, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades announced on Sunday morning. 

In a statement released by the military wing of Hamas, it said the fighters, who found themselves stuck on the IDF-controlled side of the "Yellow Line" demarcating the ceasefire line, would not surrender and called for mediators to “find a solution.” 

“The occupation bears full responsibility for the clashes with our fighters in Rafah, who are defending themselves within an area under its control,” the Al-Qassam Brigades said in its statement.

“Let the enemy know that the principle of surrender and submission to the enemy does not exist in the Al-Qassam Brigades' lexicon.” 

“We hold the mediators accountable and urge them to find a solution to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire and prevent the enemy from using flimsy pretexts to violate it and exploit it to target innocent civilians in Gaza,” the group stated, without mentioning the repeated ceasefire violations carried out by Hamas over the past week, including two incidents on Saturday in which two terrorists were killed after approaching IDF positions behind the Yellow Line.

Hamas also claimed that it would need “additional teams and technical equipment” to recover the remaining bodies of the deceased hostages. 

“The process of recovering the bodies during the past phase took place under complex and extremely difficult circumstances,” the terror group said. “Despite this, we adhered to our obligations under the agreement. We emphasize that recovering the remaining bodies requires additional teams and technical equipment.” 

Meanwhile, both Israeli and U.S. media continue to report that the U.S. government is pressuring Israel to agree to a deal to allow safe passage for the almost 150 terrorists out of the Rafah area, currently controlled by the Israeli military.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff – who is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday with Trump advisor Jared Kushner – has been pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant the terrorists safe passage in an effort to advance the deal to its next phase.

However, many of Netanyahu’s coalition partners are opposed to any agreement that would allow the terrorists to safely leave Rafah. 

Last week, Witkoff said that Hamas had told him in pre-ceasefire meetings that it was willing to lay down its arms.

“Hamas has always indicated that they would disarm. They’ve said so – they said it to us directly during that famous meeting that Jared had with them,” Witkoff said while speaking to an audience at the America Business Forum conference in Miami. 

“I hope that they keep their word because if they do, they’ll understand that the development plan that we have for Gaza is really terrific – a lot better than anyone has ever discussed before,” he added. 

However, Hamas officials have publicly rejected any plan to disarm under an international force, insisting the group would only turn over its weapons to the government of a future Palestinian state.

This contradicts what Witkoff told the business forum, as he claimed Hamas would hand over its weapons to the international stabilization force (ISF). 

“Hamas has always said that we’re going to need the international security force to come in here and be the layer they give the weapons to,” Witkoff said on Thursday, adding, “That’ll be the inflection point where we see if everyone’s going to do as they say and demilitarize.”

Reports in Arab media have indicated that neither Qatar nor Turkey – two of the mediators who worked with Hamas to reach the ceasefire agreement – want Hamas to disarm. Both countries have recently accused Israel of violating the ceasefire while overlooking repeated breaches by Hamas fighters.