Hamas has insisted it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, pushing back against a key Israeli condition for ending the war in Gaza.
Mediated negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which looked to secure a 60-day ceasefire, as well as the release of hostages, ended in deadlock last week.
Qatar and Egypt, who are facilitating negotiations, on Tuesday endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia which outlined a plan towards a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian war.
One of the conditions of the plan would force Hamas to hand over its arms to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, which has been militarily steamrolled by Israel in the ongoing war. In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said it cannot yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an "independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital" is established.
Israel requires a full disarmament of Hamas as a key condition for ending any conflict - a demand which Hamas is unwilling to concede to.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month claimed that any attempt to establish a future independent Palestinian state would be considered a platform to destroy Israel.
As such, he maintains that security control over Palestinian territories must remain with Israel.
The governments of the UK and Canada have since announced their plans to recognise a Palestinian state, in response to the obliteration of Gaza through Israel’s ongoing military offensive and blockade.
The move was met with outrage from Netanyahu, who labelled the plans a reward for Hamas.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.
The attack was met with a subsequent military onslaught on Gaza, which killed over 60,000 Palestinians, triggered a humanitarian catastrophe, and turned much of the country into a rubble-laden wasteland.
The last round of ceasefire talks saw both Israel and Hamas blaming one another, ending in an impasse that offered no clarity on the extent of an Israeli military withdrawal.
