Senior American official says Trump administration will link Hamas disarmament to amnesty, after Board of Peace plan presented by Trump’s son-in-law teased amnesty, reintegration plan.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
The United States is planning to link the disarmament of the Hamas terror organization to an offer of amnesty for its members, a senior American official said on Monday.
A report published by Reuters cited the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip retrieved the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza.
The official expressed optimism regarding the prospects for securing Hamas’ backing for disarmament, adding that the US expects that an agreement on the matter will be conditioned on amnesty for Hamas terrorists.
“We are listening to many of their people talk about disarming,” the official said. “We think they’re going to. If they don’t disarm, then they’ve breached the deal.”
“We think disarmament comes along with some sort of amnesty and candidly we think we have a very, very good program to disarm.”
Israel’s embassy in Washington DC declined to respond to the report.
The source also warned that if Hamas attempts to avoid its obligation to disarm, “then obviously President Trump will take other actions.”
In addition, no reconstruction work will take place in Gaza until Hamas is disarmed, the official said.
“President Trump is fully aligned with Prime Minister Netanyahu with [the] statement that the rebuilding will not occur until there’s a demilitarization and a disarmament of Hamas.”
Regarding the return of Gvili’s body to Israel on Monday, the American official claimed that the breakthrough was made after Qatari and Turkish mediators convinced Hamas to cooperate with Israel.
“The Qataris and the Turks were very helpful in getting Hamas to cooperate. I will say Hamas was very cooperative as they fulfilled the obligation that they signed up for.”
The claim appears to contradict statements by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, which said that the discovery was made based on comments by a captured terrorist during interrogation.
Monday’s report is not the first time the US has signaled it may back amnesty for Hamas terrorists in exchange for disarmament.
During the inaugural event of the Board of Peace last Thursday, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner presented details of the administration’s plans for implementation of phases two and three of the Gaza peace proposal.
One slide of the visual presentation which accompanied Kushner’s speech wrote that disarmament would be “rewarded with amnesty & reintegration, or safe passage.”
The administration’s 20-point peace plan also mentions amnesty for “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons.”
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