Israel demands Hamas surrender all weapons

Hamas disarmament means it must give up its weapons, not just its main weapons, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

He noted that there has been talk about Hamas giving up only its “heavy weapons.”

“There’s practically no heavy weapons in Gaza. There’s no artillery. There’s no tanks. There’s nothing. The heavy weapon, the one that does the most damage, is called an AK-47,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.

According to the PM, there are 60,000 rifles in Hamas hands. “They have to go outside,” as do RPGs and rocket, he added.

"That’s what they used in the massacre of October 7. That’s what they used. They did the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust with AK-47s," Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Demilitarizing Gaza means Hamas’s remaining 350 km of tunnels must be destroyed, and the same for any weapons factories, Netanyahu said.

A report in The New York Times last week said Hamas would be allowed to keep “some small arms,” at least initially, while surrendering all weapons that are “capable of striking Israel,” according to a draft plan drawn up by officials involved in the U.S.-led Board of Peace.