Hamas rejects Netanyahu aide’s 60-day ultimatum for group to disarm

Israeli minister issues 60-day ultimatum to Hamas, threatening renewed war if the group fails to disarm as demanded.Published On 17 Feb 2026Hamas has rejected remarks by an Israeli government official calling for the Gaza-based group to disarm in 60 days and threatening to resume Israel’s genocidal war if it fails to comply.Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi told Al Jazeera Mubasher on Monday that he had no knowledge of such a demand.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Starvation by design: How Israel turned food into a weapon of war in Gazalist 2 of 3Armed militia members are serving as Israeli agents in Gaza: Investigationlist 3 of 3Pro-Palestine groups to protest Israeli president’s visit to Australiaend of list“Statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu … and through the media are merely threats with no basis in the ongoing negotiations”, Al Jazeera Arabic cited him as saying.Mardawi’s comments come after Israeli Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, during a conference in Jerusalem on Monday, threatened to renew the genocidal war on Gaza if Hamas failed to disarm in 60 days, local media outlet the Times of Israel reported.A top aide to Netanyahu, Fuchs claimed that the two-month period was requested by the United States administration. “We are respecting that,” he said.Without confirming when the ultimatum would exactly start, Fuchs said it might begin with the February 19 meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace – a Washington-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.“We will evaluate it,” Fuchs said. “If it works, great. If not, then the IDF [Israeli army] will have to complete the mission.”Hamas’s Mardawi told Al Jazeera Mubasher that any threat to renew the war would have “serious repercussions for the region” and stressed that “the Palestinian people will not surrender”, AJA reported.The second phase of the “ceasefire” agreement began in mid-January, in which the US says it will tackle the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Hamas has refused to give up arms as long as Israel continues to occupy Gaza.