Hamas to skip Gaza peace deal signing in Egypt, calls Trump’s evacuation plan ‘absurd’

A senior leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas told the AFP news agency that the group will skip the formal signing of the Gaza peace deal in Egypt because they disagree with some aspects of Donald Trump’s plan. This decision leaves the future of the long-awaited agreement uncertain.

Hamas leaders called calls for members of the plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip “absurd,” the Times of Israel reported.

According to India Today, Hamas political bureau member Husam Badran told reporters: “Talking about expelling Palestinians from their land, whether they are Hamas members or not, is absurd and meaningless.” He said he expected negotiations on the second phase of the plan to be difficult because it “contains a lot of complexities and challenges.”

The comments were made ahead of Trump’s two-day trip to the Middle East, where he is expected to announce the next step of his plan and commemorate the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza two years after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

But significant political obstacles remain, according to a senior Hamas official. He stated that even if Hamas leaves the Gaza government, disarmament of the organization, one of the main requirements of the plan, is ‘out of the question’.

The previous ceasefire was ended unilaterally in March by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hinted that Israel might launch another attack if Hamas did not disarm.

Trump’s deal was implemented on Friday when Israel agreed to a ceasefire and withdrew its forces from parts of Gaza, allowing displaced families to return to homes destroyed by Israeli bombings. On Saturday, thousands of Palestinians traveled northward on foot, in cars and in horse-drawn carriages along the Gaza coast as the ceasefire appeared to hold.

Within the scope of the ceasefire, Hamas must release the remaining 251 dead and 47 Israeli hostages from the 251 people it kidnapped during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, by noon on Monday. Additionally, the remains of another hostage who has been detained since 2014 are expected to be returned.

In return, Israel will release 1,700 Gazans held since the beginning of the conflict and 250 detainees, some of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment for deadly anti-Israeli actions.

According to figures deemed reliable by the United Nations, Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,682 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run region.

The last round of the war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to Israel’s official figures.

Israeli troops withdrew after the conflict, which cost tens of thousands of people their lives and left much of the region in ruins. Although no American forces will enter Gaza, the U.S. military will form a multinational task force that is expected to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel’s operation in Gaza has killed at least 67,682 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory, according to figures deemed reliable by the UN.

Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,219 people, especially civilians, according to Israel’s official figures, was the catalyst for the latest wave of conflict.