Rubio hints US could accept Hamas keeping small arms
The top US diplomat told Al-Monitor the focus of disarmament should be on the "weaponries or capabilities" that Hamas would need to threaten Israel.
WASHINGTON — As mediators work to implement the next phase of Gaza's fragile ceasefire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to leave the door open for a disarmament plan that would allow Hamas to retain some of its smaller arms while surrendering its rockets and other heavy weapons.
“I’m not going to get into the details of those types of negotiations,” Rubio told Al-Monitor when asked whether the United States would accept the partial disarmament of Hamas.
“I would just ask everyone to focus on what are the kind of weaponries or capabilities that Hamas would need in order to threaten or attack Israel as a baseline for what disarmament needs to look like,” Rubio said at his year-end news conference.
“You’re not gonna have peace if two years from now Hamas is launching rockets or killing Israelis or carrying out, God forbid, another Oct. 7-type terrorist attack and so forth. You’re not going to have peace,” Rubio continued. “Who’s gonna invest in peace — in rebuilding a place that’s gonna get destroyed again in a future war? That’s why disarmament is so critical.”
Rubio spoke as US and regional mediators hammer out the sequencing of Hamas’ disarmament, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the deployment of an international security force, as outlined in President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza, released in late September.
Since agreeing to the ceasefire, Hamas officials have offered mixed messages on whether the group will disarm as required. Earlier this month, senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Al-Monitor that his group would begin laying down its weapons as part of a long-term ceasefire that includes guarantees that Israel won’t resume its attacks. Naim sidestepped a question about whether Hamas was considering full or partial disarmament.
