From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Senior PLO official: Hamas in talks to sell its arms, raze its tunnels
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Senior PLO official Ahmed Majdalani says Hamas is engaged in talks with Israel and the US about selling off its arms and dismantling its military infrastructure in Gaza.
In an interview published today by Saudi network Al-Arabiya’s Mazeej podcast, Majdalani accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the disarmament issue as an “excuse” to keep the war in Gaza alive.
“Hamas is discussing its arms with both the Americans and the Israelis,” Majdalani says. He does not specify whether the talks with either Israel or the US are direct or indirect.
The talks, says Majdalani, revolve around three issues: “First… the gathering of heavy weapons; second, demolition of military infrastructure — the tunnels and manufacturing workshops; and third, restricting weapons to the police,” the new Palestinian force that is supposed to replace Gaza’s Hamas-run police as part of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Hamas is demanding that its disarmament take place “according to the Irish model — the weapons will be gathered and sold… weapons in exchange for money,” Majdalani says, without specifying to whom the weapons would be sold.
It’s also unclear which “Irish model” Majdalani is referring to. Under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, anti-UK paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland destroyed their weapons and did not directly receive money in exchange for them.
“I didn’t make this up,” he says, adding of Hamas: “I wish they would come out and face the people and say this.”
Hamas’s frequent statements that it will hold onto its weapons until there is an independent state of Palestine are meant for “public consumption,” Majdalani claims.
“That’s not the tone in discussions with us,” he adds.
Israel, which insists Hamas disarm before Gaza is rebuilt, “wants an excuse” to keep fighting, Majdalani alleges.
“First, the excuse was the soldier’s body, and it was found,” he says, referring to the body of Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, whose remains were found last month. “Today, the excuse is the weapons.”
“Netanyahu will keep using this excuse for as long as possible to undermine the possibility of an agreement to end the war,” he says.
“Today we have an agreement on a ceasefire, not an end to the war,” he adds, pointing to Israeli airstrikes that have killed dozens of people in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was signed in October. Israel has said the killings come in response to ceasefire violations.
Majdalani is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Council, which is made up of representatives of PLO member factions. A former minister in the Palestinian Authority, Majdalani sits on the top PLO body by dint of his being secretary general of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, a small left-wing faction in the PLO. He is also head of the Tamkeen organization responsible for the distribution of welfare payments to Palestinians in place of a controversial previous program in which prisoners were given stipends based on the length of their sentence.
Majdalani’s comments come after PLO Secretary General Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, said the PLO rejects calls for Hamas to disarm and its classification as a terror group.
The Times of Israel Community.