By Tareq S. Hajjaj
February 27, 2025
Senior Hamas leader and politburo member Ismail Radwan said that Hamas does not want to exclusively rule Gaza and that it would accept a Palestinian “national consensus” on the governing body that would rule over the strip.
Israel has publicly stated that one of its prerequisites for a permanent end of its war on Gaza is the complete disarmament of Hamas and for it to no longer rule in the strip. But Radwan stressed that while Hamas is not interested in governing, its right to resist the occupation remains a “red line.”
“We are not keen on ruling the Gaza Strip,” Radwan told Mondoweiss in a phone interview on Wednesday. “We are with any national consensus on how to manage Palestinian affairs, whether in the West Bank or Gaza — because Gaza is part of historic Palestine.”
Radwan stressed that Israel would not dictate the terms of how Palestinians would decide to rule themselves, and that this was an internal Palestinian matter. “We reject any external interference led by the Zionist entity,” he explained. “Therefore, the weapons of the resistance are a red line that is not up for discussion.”
Radwan asserted that armed resistance is a legitimate right of any occupied people to defend itself, and that “it is the Zionist entity that should be disarmed. It has committed war crimes and genocide, according to international courts.”
Radwan’s comments come after a series of developments that have brought the first phase of the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza to a dangerous crossroads, leaving the prospects for the implementation of its planned second phase uncertain. During the initial part of the agreement, which went into force in mid-January, Hamas released dozens of Israeli captives in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allowing the entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction material into Gaza. But Israel has reneged on its end of the bargain several times throughout the first phase, raising concerns as to whether Israel is serious about kl advancing to a second stage.
Last Saturday, Israel suspended the release of over 600 Palestinian prisoners after Hamas had already released 6 Israeli captives on the same day, citing Hamas’s “degrading” handover ceremonies that often included having Israeli captives taking photos in front of a podium and receiving plaques and mementos from the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Netanyahu’s suspension of the release came on the heels of a viral moment during the most recent handover ceremony, in which an Israeli captive, a male soldier, kissed the heads of two Qassam fighters.
Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif Qanou’ said in a statement that the Palestinian prisoners who were due for release last week would be released simultaneously with the handover of the bodies of slain Israeli captives, who Hamas said were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel would also release a group of women and children on the same day. “There will be a new mechanism that guarantees the occupation’s commitment,” Qanou’ said.
Late on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the over 600 prisoners were finally released following the handover of the bodies of four Israeli captives. The prisoners were part of the seventh and final batch of Palestinians set to be freed as part of the first phase of the ceasefire, with 37 Palestinians arriving in Ramallah, over 400 arriving in Gaza after having been arrested in the strip throughout the war, and 97 prisoners serving life sentences who accepted deportation and arrived in Egypt. Among the deported was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouti, who spent 40 years behind bars.
Sabotaging the ceasefire to continue the genocide
The suspension of the release of the final batch of prisoners was the latest in a series of Israeli violations of the ceasefire conditions in recent weeks, including the prevention of the entry of temporary housing units into Gaza and heavy machinery for the removal of rubble. Hamas attempted to pressure Israel to adhere to the ceasefire’s humanitarian protocols by suspending the release of a batch of Israeli captives two weeks ago, after which Egyptian mediators guaranteed that Israel would allow the free entry of the agreed-upon humanitarian aid. Despite these assurances, Israel continued to delay and postpone, prompting Hamas to accuse Israel of manufacturing excuses to put off the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire.
As March approaches, the second phase of the ceasefire would see Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, a strip of land running along the border between Egypt and Gaza that Israel claims Hamas uses as its main supply line. During this phase, talks over the permanent end of the war and Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza are also supposed to begin.
Hamas officials have condemned Israel’s continuous violations of the ceasefire, contending that they are part of an Israeli strategy to extend the first phase of the agreement rather than moving on to implementing a full withdrawal from Gaza.
Qanou’ told Mondoweiss that “new measures” would be taken to guarantee that Israel would abide by the ceasefire deal.
“We have no interest in sabotaging the deal,” Qanou’ told Mondoweiss. “Our interest is in adhering to the ceasefire agreement and forcing the occupation to commit to it.”
Qanou’ also said that Hamas had not received any proposed plans for the second phase of the agreement.
Ismail Radwan told Mondoweiss that talks on the second phase were supposed to start on the sixteenth day of the first phase, “but the occupation delayed the stipulations and created obstacles to reaching the second phase.”
Radwan believes that internal political divisions in Israel are driving the chronic Israeli violations and postponements in implementing the ceasefire conditions. “Netanyahu is trying to achieve through these disruptions what he couldn’t achieve throughout the war of extermination on Gaza.”
Earlier in February, Radwan told Mondoweiss that Israel’s violations were another way of continuing to carry out its genocide in Gaza through other means. “The occupation’s goal is to deepen the suffering it created through its genocidal war against our people,” Radwan said.
* This article was automatically syndicated and expanded from Mondoweiss.
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