WASHINGTON: The United States believes disarmament by Hamas militants in Gaza comes along with some sort of amnesty for the Palestinian group, a US official said on Monday.
The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, spoke to mark the return of the remains of the last Israeli hostage held by Hamas. Israel and the United States are pressuring Hamas to disarm as part of a plan in which Gaza will be redeveloped.
The official said there is confidence among US officials that Hamas will disarm.
“We are listening to many of their people talk about disarming. 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,” the official said.
The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a question on whether Israel would agree to amnesty for Hamas members if they give up their weapons.
