Trump Claims ‘It Looks Like’ Hamas Will Disarm; That’s News To Hamas – Antiwar.com

January 30, 2026 TheMcgwire

Trump Claims ‘It Looks Like’ Hamas Will Disarm; That’s News To Hamas

Trump and envoy Steve Witkoff float demilitarization; senior Hamas leader says no deal exists, and no one asked.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that “it looks like” Hamas is “ going to disarm ,” and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the group would “give up their AK-47s,” as Washington pressed a second-phase Gaza framework in which demilitarization is a core requirement. Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Hamas never agreed to surrender its weapons, said disarmament was never raised directly with Hamas by the United States or mediators, and said “not for a single moment” did Hamas discuss surrendering weapons or any formula for disarmament.

Trump made the remark during a White House cabinet meeting and did not provide evidence for the assertion. Witkoff, speaking in the same setting, framed disarmament as inevitable and said, “They will because they have no choice. They’re going to give up their AK-47s.” Trump also said Hamas helped locate and return the bodies of the last deceased hostages still held in Gaza, while Israel had not confirmed that cooperation in the remarks cited from the cabinet meeting.

Abu Marzouk rejected the premise in remarks aired on Al Jazeera, saying Hamas had not discussed “the weapons yet,” and saying neither the American side nor mediators had spoken to Hamas directly about disarmament.

He described negotiations as the place to debate “which weapons will be removed, what will be removed, [and] how they will be removed,” while arguing that a group not disarmed after two years of war would not be disarmed by talks alone. He stressed that Hamas still governs parts of Gaza not under IDF control under the ceasefire framework and suggested Hamas can block who effectively operates inside the Strip without its consent.

The United States told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Gaza’s demilitarization would put weapons “ permanently beyond use ” through an agreed process “supported by an internationally funded buyback and reintegration program,” under international monitoring.

🔗SOURCE ➡️ Antiwar.com

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