Why Israel's demand to 'disarm Hamas' is a dealbreaker for a Gaza ceasefire

Once again, a new Israeli proposal sparked debate and suspicion in Gaza about the prospect of achieving a ceasefire soon. Central to the controversy is an Israeli demand that many Palestinians consider unrealistic and offensive: the disarmament of armed resistance factions in Gaza, notably Hamas.

The new Israeli proposal, conveyed to Hamas by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, offers a 45-day ceasefire, a phased prisoner exchange, and discussions aimed at achieving a permanent truce, but only if the armed resistance in Gaza relinquish their weapons. 

For Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, such a condition is crosses a "red line".

"This is not a serious peace proposal. Netanyahu uses the disarmament clause to trap us, delay the process, and buy time. His goal isn't peace; it's political survival," a senior Hamas official, who preferred not to mention his name due to the sensitivity of the topic, remarked to The New Arab. 

Israelis claim disarmament as a "security measure", while Palestinians view it as a tactic to sabotage talks, and prolong the war and occupation by stifling out any form of resistance.

Resistance as a 'fundamental right'

Hamas is currently conducting internal consultations with other armed factions in Gaza to draft up a joint response to the Israeli demand. Sources doubt that Hamas or other armed factions would accept surrendering their weapons.

"The resistance originated from occupation," the senior Hamas official argued to TNA. "As long as any occupied land exists, resistance is a fundamental right. Weapons represent more than just arms; they symbolise survival."

For many Palestinians in Gaza, that symbolism remains deeply entrenched, especially after 18 months of Israel's war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 80 per cent of the population. 

Despite Israeli claims of degrading Hamas's capabilities, the group continues to fire rockets, albeit sporadically, toward Israeli towns.

Over the years, Hamas has invested heavily in building a network of tunnels, manufacturing local weapons, and acquiring arms through regional allies like Iran. 

Its arsenal, ranging from homemade rockets to sophisticated drones, has made it one of the most formidable non-state military actors in the region, according to Palestinian and Israeli security estimates. 

Even though Hamas has never announced accurate estimates of its weapon arsenal, some Israeli and European outlets claim that the movement had about 30,000 rockets, saying that they originated from Iran, Russia, and China, while most of them were manufactured inside the war-torn coastal enclave. 

Yet since the start of Israel's military campaign on 7 October 2023, Israeli forces claim they have apparently killed thousands of Hamas fighters and key figures, and destroyed most of Hamas's arsenal.

But Palestinian political analysts said the resistance's core infrastructure remains intact.

"No one can claim that Hamas is defeated," Hussam al-Dajani, a Gaza-based political analyst, told TNA. "It has been weakened, yes. But disarmed? Far from it."

Al-Dajani argues that the talk of disarmament at this stage is nothing but a deliberate Israeli tactic.
"Israel presented the proposal in this way, highlighting disarmament without connecting it to Palestinian rights, particularly the two-state solution, to ensure Hamas's rejection," he said. 

He emphasised that Palestinians view weapons as a legal right under international law due to ongoing occupation.

"Hamas and resistance factions are liberation movements; they can either surrender or raise the white flag," he said.

"Israel knows that as long as there is resistance in Gaza, it won't feel stable," he added, and also questioned the international community's silence towards Israel's aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and other territories.

'Weapons or no weapons, Israel will kill us regardless'

In Gaza, daily life has collapsed under the weight of relentless bombardment, displacement, and scarcity, leaving civilians both exhausted and defiantly clinging to fragments of hope.

Families have been torn apart, homes reduced to rubble, and essential services have vanished. Yet amidst the ruins, voices of resilience and differing visions for survival continue to echo.

"I've lost it all: my husband was killed in an airstrike, my brother died trying to fetch water, and our house was flattened," Reem Abu Salim, a 42-year-old widow from Khan Younis, remarked to TNA.  

"If surrendering weapons would end the nightmare and let us go home, I would support it, but I fear Israel will kill us regardless. They [the Israelis] see us as less than human, armed or not."

Mahmoud Abu Khater, a Palestinian man from Deir al-Balah, sees things differently. He told TNA that "you can't ask a drowning man to remove his life jacket. Without weapons, we are helpless. What protection do we have if the world keeps ignoring our suffering?" 

He believes that disarmament without guarantees would only embolden further aggression. "I don't want my children to grow up without dignity," he added.

These contrasting voices reflect the broader Palestinian debate between the desperate desire for peace at any cost and the deep-rooted belief that survival requires resistance in a world where diplomacy has repeatedly failed them.

"The weapons of the resistance are not negotiable. No rational actor would agree to leave our people defenceless while the occupation persists," said Ahmad Abu al-Saud of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in a press statement.

This cross-factional alignment suggests a unified rejection of what many consider a colonial precondition. Disarmament, they argue, strips Palestinians not only of military tools but of political agency and dignity.

For his part, Ramallah-based political analyst Abdul Majeed Sweilem see that Israel's disarmament efforts indicate more than merely security concerns, rather they show that an Israeli military victory in Gaza is becoming unattainable.

"Israel knows it can't eliminate Hamas completely, so it's moving the conflict to negotiations," he told TNA, saying, "presenting disarmament without political concessions like recognising Palestinian sovereignty or pursuing a two-state solution is mere posturing." 

"Israel's aim is not peace; it's about enforcing defeat," he added. 

"The debate over resistance weapons misses the core issue: occupation and evasion of obligations," the Follow-up Committee of National and Islamic Forces in Gaza said in a joint press statement. 

The committee, which includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other factions, blamed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for stalled negotiations, citing "suspicious international complicity and silence." 

It accused the US of exaggerating Palestinian resistance threats while supplying Israel with "lethal weapons dropped on civilians without accountability." 

The committee criticised the new ceasefire proposal as lacking real guarantees for ending aggression, lifting the siege, or starting reconstruction of destroyed areas, describing it as "a political trap" that prolongs occupation rather than resisting it.