Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, whose country is a key mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, said on Thursday there could be no future role for Hamas in Gaza.
His comments came as the Palestinian militant group was weighing its response to US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which has been publicly endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Hamas has no role in the day after,” Abdelatty said at a conference in Paris. “This is a full agreement among us, as Arabs, as Muslims, and even among Hamas people themselves. They understand very well that they have no role for the day after, and this is a fact.”
However, Abdelatty also said: “Let’s not give any excuse for one party to use Hamas as a pretext for these mad daily killings of civilians.”
“This is ethnic cleansing and genocide in motion. So enough is enough.”
He said he was worried about the future of Israel.
“In Gaza, we have at least 130,000 kids, Palestinian kids. They are 10 years or under. They lost all of their direct and extended families,” Abdelatty said.
“What do you expect from them five or 10 years from now? It’s very dangerous,” he added.
“For Israel, it’s important to live in peace and to be fully integrated in the region. And we are more than ready.”
Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas has yet to make a final decision on the proposal, according to a Palestinian source close to the group’s leaders.
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© Agence France-Presse
