Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh publicly stated that he will refuse to discuss demilitarization as a condition for allowing the reconstruction of Gaza, The Times of Israel reported Saturday:

“Israel is attempting to tie the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip with various things, such as the weapons of Hamas or impairing its capabilities,” Haniyeh said at an event commemorating journalists killed during the 50-day conflict with Israel. “I would like to make something clear: The weapons of the resistance cannot be tied to the reconstruction of Gaza or to any other issue to do with Gaza.” …

“Reconstruction is an obligation placed upon us, and we must rebuild Gaza after the destruction sown by Israel,” he said. “But the weapons of the resistance and its capabilities are a red line that cannot be crossed, and which no one can touch.”

Haniyeh also rejected a suggestion made by Cairo-based Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk that the terror organization would be willing to negotiate directly with Israel. In refusing to recognize Israel and disarm, Hamas is violating the principles of the Middle East Quartet,  the U.S., E.U., U.N., and Russia, which demand that Hamas must “recognize Israel, accept previous agreements and renounce terrorism as preconditions for direct negotiations with the Islamist group.”

Instead of giving up arms to rebuild Gaza, Haniyeh is insisting on remaining at war with Israel.

In the September 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Yardena Schwartz observed in How Hamas Destroys Its People, as Seen Through the Eyes of IDF Soldiers, an oral history of IDF soldiers deployed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge:

They may have told different stories from different points of view, but their one unifying message was that they, Israeli soldiers, cared much more about the lives of Palestinian civilians than Hamas ever has and ever will. For every step they took to avoid civilian deaths, they said, Hamas took two steps in the other direction.

[Photo: Masr Alarabia / YouTube ]