Some Arab mediators negotiating an end to the war in Gaza believe that they can convince Hamas to partially disarm, a step that has long been a red line for the militant group, according to three people familiar with the mediators’ thinking.
The people, two officials and a person close to the negotiators, who all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, said that Hamas could agree to hand over some of its weapons, as long as President Trump can guarantee Israel will not resume fighting.
Izzat al-Rishq, the Qatar-based director of Hamas’s media office, declined to comment in response to detailed questions about whether the group would be open to giving up any of its arms.
Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Egypt, which began this week, are largely focused on a possible exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Even if that deal is reached, the two sides have major disagreements, key among which is the fate of Hamas’s weapons.
Israel has consistently said that Hamas must give up its arms before the Gaza war can end. The militant group has long regarded that as tantamount to surrender, with armed struggle against Israel a crucial part of Hamas’s ideology. It remains unlikely that mediators would be able to convince Hamas as a whole to disarm, experts say.
“Hamas might be willing to give up some weapons, but they won’t go without them altogether,” said Adi Rotem, a retired Israeli intelligence officer who served on Israel’s Gaza war negotiating team until December 2024. “Weapons are a core part of Hamas’s DNA.”
Some within the group believe that it should refuse to give up its weapons, even if that comes at the price of a continued Israeli offensive in Gaza and the deaths of more Palestinians.
But others say Hamas now needs to be pragmatic. That some members appear open to considering a compromise on their weapons is an indication of how decimated the group has been over two years of an Israeli onslaught.
A Palestinian analyst close to Hamas’s leadership said the militant group might be willing to hand over a small number of its weapons, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel needed to project an image of victory to end the war.
That analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Hamas’s thinking, said the group might also commit to not using its weapons outside Gaza for years.
One of the people familiar with the mediators’ thinking said the group would likely claim to want to keep its small arms, if the war ended, so as to protect its members against reprisals by its Palestinian political rivals and other militias in Gaza.
The talks in Egypt have been taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh and on Wednesday, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff joined talks, along with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser on the region.
Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner were key architects of Mr. Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, which was unveiled at the White House last week.
Also arriving at the talks were Ron Dermer, a close adviser to Mr. Netanyahu; the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani; and the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin.
A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nounou, said on Wednesday that negotiators for the group and for Israel had exchanged lists of which Palestinian prisoners would be released as part of an exchange deal for the hostages.
Mr. Trump’s proposal for ending the war stipulated the demilitarization of Gaza, including the destruction of all “military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities.” Israeli military officials say that much of Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure remains intact, even after two years of war.
The plan said demilitarization should be supervised by independent monitors, which would include placing weapons “permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning.”
Mr. Trump said on Monday that Hamas was “agreeing to things that are very important,” without elaborating.
On Tuesday, Israelis and Palestinians marked two years since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war in Gaza.
About 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the October 2023 attack, and 251 others were abducted, according to Israeli authorities. More than 65,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, based in Tel Aviv.
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