WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The United States believes disarmament by Hamas militants in Gaza comes along with some sort of amnesty for the Palestinian group, a U.S. 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 U.S. 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.
Under President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan, once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries, under the plan.
The Israeli military said on Monday that the remains of the last remaining hostage held in Gaza, police officer Ran Gvili who was held hostage for more than 840 days – have been identified and will be returned for burial.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Daphne Psaledakis and Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Franklin Paul and Deepa Babington)
