Egypt training Palestinian forces for post-war Gaza, open to Hamas disarmament in 'comprehensive deal'

Egypt has begun procedures to train Palestinian security forces to be deployed in post-war Gaza, as it tied disarming Hamas to a comprehensive political solution that includes recognising a Palestinian state.

In New York on Tuesday, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Hamas cannot be disarmed “from a purely security or military perspective, without a political vision”.

He was taking part in a session to discuss the future of Gaza and achieving stability there, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 80th session in New York.

Egypt has said it will consider the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international force in the Gaza Strip, but on the condition that these measures are part of a political framework leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state, with clear international guarantees ensuring all parties' commitment.

Several Western countries, including the UK and France, recently announced they were officially recognising a Palestinian state.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza - has said there will "never be" a Palestinian state, accusing countries of "rewarding Hamas" with their recognition of Palestine.

Madbouly emphasised that any security arrangements in Gaza, whether Hamas disarmament or the deployment of an international force, will "not succeed if handled separately from the roots of the conflict", stressing that the foundation must be achieving a two-state solution.

Madbouly affirmed that "weapons must be exclusive to legitimate Palestinian state institutions, and all armed factions are required to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian Authority", in an apparent reference to Hamas, according to an official statement.

He also revealed that Egypt has already begun training Palestinian security forces and is ready to expand this effort with support from the international community.

"Previous attempts to disarm armed groups have failed when relying solely on military solutions," he said. "The complete destruction of the Gaza Strip and the ongoing Israeli violations over two years have not ended Hamas's existence or its arsenal."

Netanyahu says that the war in Gaza will not end until Hamas is destroyed – despite statements from officials in the Israeli military saying this cannot be done.

Hamas has refused to surrender its arms before a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave and the entry of humanitarian assistance.

The Egyptian prime minister welcomed any move to dispatch an international peacekeeping mission to Gaza, in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution, provided that it comes as part of a comprehensive political deal covering the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza.

Israel, however, has built hundreds of illegal settlements in the West Bank since 1967, while continuing to expand them, forestalling the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. It and has continued to challenge the status quo around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, the third hos.

Both the West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied by Israel following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with the latter being illegally annexed.

Madbouly reiterated Cairo’s categorical rejection of any attempts to displace Gaza’s Palestinian population, as Israel has indicated it aims to do, warning of the serious risk that such actions could escalate the conflict and spread it across the region.

Egypt has repeatedly warned Israel about forcing Gaza’s inhabitants out of the besieged enclave, especially to the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt has beefed up its military presence in the border region as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are displaced to the southern part of Gaza amid brutal Israeli attacks on the territory’s north.

Cairo is worried that it will be forced to face a fait accompli where huge numbers of Palestinians are forced into Sinai by Israel, according to The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza is now approaching its two-year anniversary. The Gaza health ministry says that over 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed, but the true death toll is believed to be much higher.

Ceasefire efforts mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and Israel’s main ally, the US, have yet to yield results, amid Israeli insistence that its war must continue.

Earlier this month, Israel killed six low-level Hamas members and a Qatari national in an unprecedented airstrike on Qatar’s capital Doha, in a bid to sabotage ceasefire talks.

However, Qatar has said it will continue with its diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the war in Gaza.