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December 8, 2025

Hamas Ready to Discuss "Freezing or Storing" Its Weapons
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A senior Hamas official says the group is ready to discuss "freezing or
storing" its stockpile of weapons as part of the ceasefire deal to end
Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. The overture came as Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said several key issues still needed to be
resolved before he'd commit to the second phase of the U.S.-backed
ceasefire plan, which he's planning to discuss with President Trump at
the end of December. On Saturday, Qatar and Egypt called on Israel to
fully withdraw from Gaza and for an international stabilization force to
be deployed. This is Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin
Abdulrahman al-Thani.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani: "Now we are at
a critical moment. It's not - it's not yet there. So what we have just
done is a pause. We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire
cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli
forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which
is not the case today."



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