Following the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace" in Washington, the Hamas terrorist organization on Friday stated its openness to the presence of international peacekeeping forces in Gaza.
However, the group stipulated that it would reject any interference in the territory’s “internal affairs".
The Board of Peace was formed after a ceasefire was negotiated in October by the Trump administration, along with mediators from Qatar and Egypt, bringing an end to the two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
During Thursday’s meeting, it was announced that several countries have committed to providing troops for the new International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, which is to be formed as part of Trump’s 20-point peace plan. The ISF is planned to consist of 20,000 soldiers and a new police force.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP on Friday, “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."
At the meeting, Nickolay Mladenov, who was appointed high representative for Gaza by the United States, announced the start of recruitment for a post-Hamas police force in Gaza.
Regarding this new police force, Qassem added, “Training Palestinian police forces within their national framework is not a problem if it is aimed at maintaining internal security in the Strip and confronting the chaos that the occupation and its militias seek to create."
Hamas has repeatedly refused to disarm, even though Trump’s peace plan stipulates that the terrorist group lay down its weapons. Hamas claims its weapons are used for “self-defense against the occupation."
Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal recently reaffirmed the terrorist group’s refusal to comply with Trump’s call to lay down arms, saying, “As long as our people are under occupation, talk of disarmament is an attempt to turn our people into victims, to make their elimination easier and to facilitate their destruction at the hands of the Israeli side, which is armed with every international means of warfare."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)