Hamas says open to Gaza peacekeeping force, but rejects foreign role in ‘internal affairs’

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Friday that his terror organization is open to international peacekeeping forces in Gaza, but rejected any interference in the territory’s “internal affairs.”

“Our position on international forces is clear: we want peacekeeping forces that monitor the ceasefire, ensure its implementation, and act as a buffer between the occupation army and our people in the Gaza Strip, without interfering in Gaza’s internal affairs,” Qassem told AFP.

Hamas had initially come out fervently against the International Stabilization Force when it was initially laid out last year by the US in its 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war. The terrorist group appears to be softening its stance now that the ISF is coming together and several countries have agreed to contribute troops to the force.

Hamas said in a statement late Thursday that any discussions on Gaza must begin with a total halt to Israeli “aggression” as US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” maps out the territory’s future, with Israel insisting on the terrorists’ disarmament before reconstruction starts.

Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday, with a number of countries pledging money and personnel for rebuilding, more than four months into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

He revealed that five countries — Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan — agreed to contribute thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force, which is supposed to gradually replace Israeli troops in Gaza.

But the board meeting offered no timeline for Hamas to lay down its weapons or for Israel’s army to withdraw from the shattered enclave.

“Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression,” Hamas said.

The terror group also said arrangements for Gaza’s future must start with the “lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people’s legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination.”

‘Security and peace’

The Board of Peace was established after the Trump administration, with longtime mediators Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt two years of devastating war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The next phase of the Trump plan provides for the disarmament of Hamas, the gradual withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces, and the deployment of the ISF, with a transitional Palestinian technocratic committee overseeing day-to-day governance.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas must disarm before any reconstruction begins, which the terror group has rejected.

Both sides have frequently accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire, which came into effect last October after two years of devastating war started by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

At the Board of Peace meeting on Thursday, Trump said several countries, mostly in the Gulf, had pledged more than seven billion dollars to rebuild the territory.

Palestinians who spoke to AFP in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis swayed between hope and suspicion about the Washington meeting.

“Trump is merely a military force imposing his views on the world, and this security council, which he boasts about, is another gateway to the occupation of Palestine, another face of the Zionist occupation,” said Farid Abu Odeh, referring to the board.

Another Palestinian, Mohammed al-Saqqa, said he was praying Trump’s board would lead to “security and peace, and to something better than what we have gone through.”

Many analysts and some US allies have indicated skepticism about the board due to concerns it may sideline the United Nations.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP he found what was emerging from the board “seriously disturbing.”

Lovatt said many of its ideas for Gaza’s reconstruction originated from Israeli-friendly partners, while Palestinian voices were excluded.

He asserted that signs pointed to “a colonial project in terms of trying to impose a foreign economic project on a territory.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the European Commission should not have sent a representative to the meeting as it did not have a mandate to represent member states.

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said the lack of Palestinian input and the grand reconstruction plans contingent on Hamas’s disarmament made it “hard to take the Board of Peace seriously.”