Hamas: Witkoff misleads public opinion, provides political cover for starvation policies

In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said Witkoff’s “misleading” remarks, along with the broadcast of promotional images portraying the aid distribution as peaceful, are contradicted by the facts on the ground. According to the statement, more than 1,300 innocent starving people were martyred by Zionist troops and employees of the “inhuman” Gaza Foundation, which was established to continue acts of killing and extermination.

Hamas asserted that the US administration is “fully complicit in the crime of starvation and genocide” being committed in the Gaza Strip. The Movement called on the US to “assume its historic responsibility, lift the cover off this crime of the era,” and pursue a ceasefire agreement that would lead to “ending the aggression, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and lifting the unjust siege on our people.”

The Movement also warned that continued US alignment with “Israeli policies and violations” will only “deepen the humanitarian catastrophe and perpetuate the conflict in Palestine and the region.”

In a related context, and in response to some media outlets quoting Steve Witkoff as saying that Hamas had expressed readiness to disarm, the Movement reaffirmed that “resistance and its weapons are a national and legal entitlement as long as the occupation exists, recognized by international laws and conventions, and cannot be abandoned except upon full restoration of our national rights, foremost of which is the establishment of a fully sovereign, independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”