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‘We’re still committed to Gaza peace plan’, senior Hamas official assures
'We are still ready to give our people a chance on the ground to revive their life and to reach the minimum calm, stability and peace,' Basem Naim said in an exclusive interview with CNN
- PUBLISHED: Fri 21 Aug 2026, 7:26 PM
A senior Hamas political bureau official has confirmed the group is “still committed” to making the US-brokered peace agreement work and forge a future political settlement in Gaza.
In a recent exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Basem Naim said: “We believe still, we’re committed to the deal. To make it happen, we are still ready to continue this way to give our people a chance on the ground to revive their life and to reach the minimum of calm, stability and peace.”
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Naim, a senior leader of Hamas political bureau, was in the room when US envoy Jared Kushner had a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
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US President Donald Trump last month announced that Hamas had agreed to lay down its arms in phases under a 15-point roadmap put forward by his so-called Board of Peace.
On July 31, Hamas agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the halting of Israeli attacks and gradual withdrawal of forces from the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting with Kushner, however, Netanyahu insisted that Israel would not withdraw from Gaza before complete disarmament by Hamas.
Very long, hard negotiations
Naim clarified during the CNN interview the position of Hamas on the Gaza peace plan. He said: “At the end of July, after very long and very hard negotiations with the mediators and the Board of Peace, we agreed on the roadmap presented and offered to us.”
“We have repeated our acceptance of the roadmap and our full commitment to the agreed version of the roadmap and to the whole plan, how to achieve calm and final ceasefire in Gaza Strip. We heard the same commitment from the delegation that they are committed to the deal and they will try to get a public acceptance from the Israeli side.
Unfortunately, (Israel) rejected the deal and, practically on the ground, they have tried to escalate the situation and to spoil any chance to go forward in the direction of settlement of this conflict in Gaza,” Naim underscored, noting: “In the last few days, nearly every day, we have witnessed a massacre against our people.”
Hamas disarmament plan
Naim also clarified the issue on Hamas disarmament. He told CNN: “We were totally committed to phase one, we have never violated the plan. On the contrary, we have done more than expected from our side regarding implementing the plan. On the other side, when it comes to the humanitarian protocol to all the needs of Gaza, nothing of this was implemented.
“We are talking about people – Palestinians in Gaza and also in the West Bank who are under occupation, who are looking for getting rid of the occupation,” highlighted the senior Hamas senior, reiterating: “The plan is talking in clear words about everything, including the decommissioning of weapons, and Hamas is committed to all what has been signed.”
Political rights of Palestinians
Naim also said Hamas are looking at a political track to bring about a Palestinian state. He said: “30 years ago, Palestinians – represented by the PLO – have given the Israelis a great chance to go for a political peaceful solution. Who has undermined and spoiled this chance? It is the Israelis, first by rejecting this track, the two-state solution, and second by assassinating and killing the man who has signed the agreement.”
He added: “At the moment we have a serious chance to have a Palestinian state. Hamas will be converted into a political party. We will give up political resistance. Our weapons will be handed over to the Palestinian state.”
Naim also asserted that the “conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is not an armed conflict; it is a political conflict that has to be solved politically.”
“But it has to guarantee the political rights of Palestinians to have an independent self-sovereign state,” he underscored, adding: “We are looking for a political solution, but as long as we don’t achieve it, we have always the right as people under occupation to resist this occupation by all means, including armed resistance.”
Meanwhile, Gaza health officials said an Israeli strike on the municipal police headquarters in Gaza City killed nine people on Wednesday, with the Israeli military saying it targeted a Hamas commander in that strike and another further south.
Attacks in the Palestinian territory have continued in recent days, despite a renewed push by the United States to advance a long-term Gaza peace plan.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 73,417 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,360 wounded in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on October 7, 2023.
(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)
