Hamas says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established as Israeli fire kills 18 in Gaza
The militant group said it was issuing a statement "in response to media reports quoting US envoy Steve Witkoff, claiming [Hamas] has shown willingness to disarm".
It continued: "We reaffirm that resistance and its arms are a legitimate national and legal right as long as the occupation continues.
"This right is recognised by international laws and norms, and it cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights - first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
Hamas also condemned Mr Witkoff's visit to an aid distribution centre in on Friday as "nothing more than a premeditated staged show".
Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Mr Witkoff and Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to , visited a centre run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Hamas said the trip was "designed to mislead public opinion, polish the image of the occupation, and provide it with political cover for its starvation campaign and continued systematic killing of defenceless children and civilians in the Gaza Strip".
Mr Witkoff said he spent "over five hours in Gaza". In a post on X on Friday, he said: "The purpose of the visit was to give [President Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza."
Read more:'Little confidence' in US officials seeing full picture
Gaza health officials have said 18 people, including eight who were trying to access food, were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.
Witness Yahia Youssef told Reuters news agency he helped carry three people wounded by gunshots and saw others lying on the ground near a food distribution centre.
In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at one of its facilities, GHF said "nothing [happened] at or near our sites".
The US- and Israel-backed GHF has been marred by controversy and fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year.
According to the United Nations' human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed "in the vicinity" of GHF aid sites since late May.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and abducted 251 others. Of those, they still hold around 50, with 20 believed to be alive, after most of the others were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.
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'The proposed sale will improve Egypt's capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to detect various air threats,' the DSCA adds. 'The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.' Should AMRAAM find its way onto Egyptian F-16s, it would end an unusual situation that was driven by politics. Critically, U.S. law ensures that Israel must retain a military advantage over its neighbors, known as the qualitative military edge (QME). How the QME is preserved remains open to interpretation, although with a long history of past conflict between Egypt and Israel, it was a critical factor in barring the delivery of AMRAAM to Cairo. Therefore, for decades now, the air-to-air weapons of Egypt's F-16s have been stuck in the past. Their primary air defense armament of AIM-9L/M Sidewinders and AIM-7M Sparrows is essentially the same as found on a U.S. Air Force tactical fighter in the late 1980s. In particular, the jets are hamstrung by the Sparrow, which relies on semi-active radar homing and thus can't be used in the kinds of 'fire and forget' engagements that AMRAAM is designed for. Relying on Sparrow makes the Egyptian F-16 far less capable of engaging multiple aerial targets simultaneously, and the missile also lacks the datalink found on its more advanced versions, starting with the AIM-120C-5. In practice, the vintage air-to-air weaponry provided to the Egyptian F-16 fleet hasn't prevented it from carrying out combat missions, which have mainly focused on counterinsurgency missions, notably against so-called Islamic State. Providing the F-16s with AMRAAM (and AIM-9X) would greatly increase their ability to perform air defense missions against higher-end threats. It's also notable that, ahead of the NASAMS proposal, the United States had been making efforts to direct Cairo's defense procurement, especially in relation to fighter jets. Russia completed 24 Su-35 Flankers that were once destined for Egypt before the threat of U.S. sanctions and a teased offer of F-15s put an end to that sale. In particular, Washington had said it would put sanctions on Cairo under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Despite this, production of the Su-35s continued at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. After many reports that the Flankers would be transferred to Iran, evidence emerged earlier this year of at least some having been delivered to Algeria. Egypt has pressed ahead with the procurement of MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrums from Russia (at least one of which was lost on the ground and others damaged or captured during combat operations in Sudan) and Dassault Rafales from France. Major development. RSF forces, led by General Hamdan Dagalo of #Sudan have captured dozens of Egyptian MiG-29 aircraft during recent coup attempt. Egypt stations limited Air Force, in Sudan partly to deter #Ethiopia, which is constructing a mega dam on the Blue Nile. — Pulp Faction (@DanielsonKassa1) April 15, 2023 More recently, there have also been reports that it might turn to China to buy Chengdu J-10 fighters, which some commentators have suggested would be used to replace older F-16s. With Russia now judged a less reliable (and politically acceptable) partner, China is very likely eyeing the possibility of replacing it as a major source of arms for Egypt. Perhaps, Washington's approval of NASAMS for Egypt heralds a broader change in stance. Certainly, it reflects a willingness to provide Cairo with high-end weapons that were previously off the table. Should Egypt seek to maximize the potential of its F-16s, then arming them with AMRAAMs (and AIM-9X) would be an obvious way of doing that, provided that the U.S. supports that goal. If not, the potential delivery of NASAMS already represents a major breakthrough in the provision of advanced U.S.-made weapons to Egypt, with the offer of one of the most capable air defense systems in its class. Contact the author: thomas@ Solve the daily Crossword
