Hamas Leader Mashaal Rejects Trump Peace Plan, Calls for Israel’s Destruction at Istanbul Conference

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Saturday again called for Israel’s destruction, publicly rejecting U.S.- and U.N.-backed demands that the Iranian-supported terror group disarm and accept a demilitarized Gaza under the terms of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire and transition plan.

Speaking by video at a pro-Palestinian conference in Istanbul, Mashaal framed the conflict as a religious mandate, declaring that “the time has come for the ummah to commit to the liberation of Jerusalem… to cleansing the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque… and to reclaiming Islamic and Christian holy sites.”

Mashaal said the global surge in anti-Israel sentiment since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre created new opportunities “to remove this entity [Israel] from our homeland and exclude it from the international stage.”

Rejects Demilitarization, Calls Weapons “Ummah’s Honor”

Mashaal directly attacked a central requirement of Trump’s ceasefire: Hamas’s disarmament and the destruction of the terror infrastructure responsible for two years of war.

“Protecting the resistance project and its weapons is the right of our people to defend themselves,” he said. “The resistance and its weapons are the ummah’s honor and pride. A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron.”

The Hamas leader dismissed the peace plan’s transitional governance structure—including the U.S.-led International Stabilization Force and the Board of Peace approved by the U.N. Security Council on Nov. 17—insisting that “the Palestinian is the one who governs himself.” Any external oversight, he said, was a “misleading framework” to undermine Palestinian claims.

Calls for Continued Resistance and Anti-Israel Campaigns

Mashaal outlined Hamas’s postwar priorities, including preventing the “Judaization” of Judea and Samaria, freeing imprisoned terrorists, building Arab unity against Israel, “pursuing” Israeli leaders internationally, and fueling anti-Israel activism on campuses, in media, and in politics worldwide.

“This is our land… and we are a people who do not break,” he said, claiming that despite international support for Israel, “all the weapons… failed to impose their will on our people.”

Israel Responds: Hamas “Mocking” the Peace Plan

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Mashaal’s remarks prove Hamas has no intention of complying with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, calling his statements “a mockery of President Trump’s peace plan” and “in direct contradiction of the core terms” Hamas agreed to.

Under the deal, Hamas was required to return all 28 bodies of Israeli captives held as of Oct. 13 and begin a phased disarmament overseen by international forces. The terror group has slow-walked compliance, delaying the transition to phase two of the agreement.

Trump’s plan explicitly requires that Hamas “agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza… and that all military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, be destroyed and not rebuilt.”

New Truce Violation in Southern Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday that a Palestinian terrorist crossed the designated Yellow Line in southern Gaza, a breach of the ceasefire parameters.

The assailant “approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the IDF said. Troops eliminated the terrorist on sight.

Forces under Southern Command “remain deployed in accordance with the agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military added.

Latest Worthy News