Hamas rejects disarmament, confirms senior commander Saad killed in Israeli strike

In speech, top official Khalil al-Hayya also says international force shouldn’t take over Gaza; Hamas accuses ‘agents of the occupation’ of assassinating internal security officer

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that the terror group’s arms are “a right guaranteed by international law,” and rejected the International Stabilization Force (ISF) envisioned by US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which was enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution last month.

In a speech marking the 38th anniversary of Hamas’s establishment, Hayya also confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces killed Raad Saad, a top Hamas commander, on Saturday. Separately, the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza accused Israel of orchestrating the killing of an internal security officer in the terror group on Sunday morning.

According to written comments published by Hamas, Hayya called in the speech for the ceasefire plan to proceed, “and especially complete the first phase that includes the entry of aid” into Gaza.

The first phase, which formed the basis of the current Gaza truce and hostage-release deal, is meant to end when Hamas returns all 48 living and dead hostages who were still in Gaza when the deal was signed on October 9. The remains of one hostage, Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, are still in Gaza.

The second phase of Trump’s plan would see Hamas lay down its arms as the ISF takes responsibility for Gaza’s security, while Israel stages a further withdrawal in the Strip.

But in his speech, Hayya said the ISF should be limited to “maintaining the ceasefire and separating the parties along the Gaza Strip’s border.”

On the other hand, he said Hamas — which Trump’s plan forbids from playing any role in Gaza’s governance — is prepared to hand over its authorities and “facilitate the work” of the apolitical technocratic Palestinian commission that would administer the Strip on a civilian level under the plan.

Hamas stands firm in “rejecting all forms of custody” over the Palestinian people, and will not give up its arms absent a Palestinian state, said Hayya.

“We affirm that the resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right guaranteed under international law to all nations under occupation,” he said. “We are open to studying any proposals to preserve this right while guaranteeing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and self-determination for our Palestinian nation.”

Trump’s plan suggests a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” could be possible as a demilitarized Gaza is rebuilt and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority “faithfully” reforms itself so that it is deemed competent to take over the Strip from international forces. Since the plan was presented in September, the PA has committed to holding elections and drafting a provisional constitution, among other reforms.

Hayya, in his speech, called on Hamas’s secularist rival Fatah, which dominates the PA, to “reach common ground and agree on a joint national program,” including “reviving Palestinian political life via the ballot box.”

Hayya also hailed the Hamas-led terror onslaught of October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251, and thanked Arab and Muslim countries that have contributed humanitarian aid to Gaza in the ensuing war.

He singled out Russia and China, praising them for their pro-Palestinian stance at the UN Security Council; ceasefire mediators Turkey, Egypt and Qatar; and South Africa, which launched proceedings at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

In addition, Hayya saluted “those who supported our people in the city squares, streets and universities” as well as the Freedom and Sumud activist flotillas that Israel detained en route to Gaza this year.

He also paid tribute to the “martyrs” killed by Israel during and since the October 7 attack, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year, Iranian Quds Force commander Saeed Izadi, who was killed during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, and Saad, the Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Saturday.

Israel confirmed Saad’s death on Saturday, with Palestinian media reporting a total of five people killed in a strike that targeted a car traveling along the coastal Rashid Road.

Hayya said Saad “was martyred alongside his brothers who were with him,” without elaborating.

Separately, Hamas’s interior ministry said Sunday that one of its officers, Lt. Col. Ahmed Zamzam, was shot dead by unspecified armed people in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, and that one suspect had been apprehended.

Later, citing an initial investigation, the Hamas ministry said Zamzam was killed by an Israeli-backed group under Israel’s orders.

“The assassination was carried out by agents of the occupation under direct orders of the Israeli intelligence apparatus,” the Hamas interior ministry said, adding that investigations were ongoing and that “the remaining perpetrators” are under pursuit.