JERUSALEM, Israel – Officials in Egypt and Israel are expressing widely divergent views on what the Trump Gaza peace plan is calling for in terms of disarming Hamas. The division comes as Hamas returned another hostage’s body of one of the non-Israelis who were kidnapped on October 7th, 2023, reducing the number of those still being held to six.
Egypt’s head of public diplomacy, Diaa Rashwan, insists that the Trump plan doesn’t specify the complete disarmament of the terror group, according to a report in Israel’s Arutz Sheva.
“Trump’s plan addresses the issue of disarming Hamas or ‘freezing’ its weapons to defensive or offensive arms, and this matter is subject to negotiation,” Rashwan said.
He told Al-Arabiya, “If an international force is required to collect weapons (from Hamas and other Palestinian Arab factions), it would place the international force in a serious dilemma and facing a big problem.”
Rashwan added, “I do not believe any country, Arab or non-Arab, would agree to take on this task, as it could lead to clashes or gunfights.”
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However, Israel’s former head of its internal security agency and current cabinet member, Avi Dichter, told a conference at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs on Wednesday that Israel will need to disarm Hamas.
Dichter declared, “The likelihood of Hamas laying down its weapons is about the same as Israel winning the World Cup. Without weapons, there is no Hamas.”
He also cautioned, “The war is not over. We’re in a ceasefire to prepare for the next stage. If necessary, the pause will disappear within minutes.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted last week that Hamas would be disarmed. “If foreign troops do it, great. If they don’t do it, we will.”
The body returned by Hamas on Wednesday night was that of Tanzanian hostage Joshua Loitu Mollel, a student, who was taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7th, 2023. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Thursday that it was Mollel, saying the identification had been completed and expressing sorrow for Mollel’s loved ones.
