Hamas says will not disarm until establishment of State of Palestine

GAZA -- Hamas affirmed on Saturday its refusal to disarm until the establishment of the State of Palestine, in response to statements by US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

Hamas said in a statement that, "The resistance and its weapons will not be abandoned until our full national rights are restored, foremost among which is the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state."

During his meeting with the families of Israeli hostages at a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Witkoff said, "Hamas has said that they are prepared to be demilitarized."

"Multiple Arab governments are now demanding that Hamas demilitarize... So we are very, very close to a solution to end this war," Witkoff added, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In a separate statement, Hamas accused Witkoff's visit to aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip of being "a pre-scripted theatrical performance designed to mislead public opinion, whitewash the occupation's image, and provide political cover for its starvation policies and systematic killing of innocent children and civilians in Gaza."

The statement said the US administration is "fully complicit in these starvation crimes."

Witkoff visited the Gaza Strip on Friday, where he inspected a controversial aid distribution center of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.