Hamas Rejects Foreign Force ‘Replacing Occupation’ in Gaza

By Staff, Agencies

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas Resistance movement has ruled out deployment of any foreign force to the Gaza Strip that would effectively serve as a substitute for the "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF].

“We cannot accept a military force that would be a substitute for the occupation [army] in Gaza,” Mousa Abu Marzouk, one of the movement’s senior leaders, told Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network on Tuesday.

The comments came after the United States circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution mandating the establishment of a “temporary international force” in the Gaza Strip for at least two years, amid Palestinians’ wariness of foreign interference in the coastal sliver.

According to American website Axios citing a copy of the draft, the “International Stabilization Force [ISF]” would be formed by the US, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt, the countries that oversaw negotiations that led to realization of a ceasefire deal between the "Israeli" entity and Hamas last month.

The deal seeks to implement the first phase of a 20-point plan by Donald Trump that the US president claims is aimed at ending the "Israeli" entity’s two-year-plus war of genocide on Gaza.

Marzouk said it would be difficult for the Security Council to pass the project to establish an international force in Gaza according to the American plan.

He noted that the idea that such a force is established through a Security Council mandate had been put forward during negotiations by mediators, including Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey.

“Neither the United States nor 'Israel' desired the international force to be established by a Security Council resolution,” he noted.

According to the draft, the ISF would be "ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding” Resistance infrastructure.

Critics note that despite its insistence on disempowering the Resistance, the Trump proposal refuses to address such main issues as "Israeli" occupation, accountability, and Palestinian rights such as the right to compensation.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Marzouk addressed another part of the agreement, namely Hamas’ handing over Gaza’s administration to a Palestinian technocratic body.

“We agreed that a minister affiliated with the Palestinian Authority should take over the administration of the Gaza Strip, prioritizing the interest of our people.”

Marzouk, meanwhile, raised serious objection to "Israel’s" having violated the ceasefire deal “more than 190” times since implementation of the deal.

He, however, roundly rejected the notion that the occupation entity had “won the war” on Gaza despite the drawn-out genocide.

The official was referring to "Israel" having failed to realize its main objectives of occupying the coastal sliver and forcing its population out.