Hamas refuses to hand over weapons to US, Israel

A senior official of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has declared that the group will not hand over its weapons to the United States or Israel, insisting they would only transfer arms to Palestinian authorities.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday that Hamas refuses to surrender its weapons to either the United States or Israel.

The Hamas official said that any disarmament would only be considered if arms were to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority or other recognized Palestinian organizations.

He stressed that the issue of demilitarization is a fundamentally political matter that requires a clear political solution to the question of Palestine.

Abu Marzouk criticized the current Gaza proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump, saying they lack sufficient consideration for such a political framework.

According to data released by Gaza health authorities on Wednesday, Israeli military actions since the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement in October 2025 had resulted in 1,005 deaths and 3,157 injuries. Overall, since the outbreak of the latest round of the Palestine-Israel conflict in October 2023, over 73,000 people have been killed and 173,000 wounded by Israeli operations in Gaza.

Also on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem released a statement, saying Hamas had demonstrated flexibility during talks in Cairo in early June, hoping to smooth the path toward implementing the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

China announced on Saturday a 500-member delegation, including 312 athletes, to compete in 335 events across 17 sports at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games, marking the country's largest athlete contingent for an overseas edition of the Games.

The athletes have an average age of 28.8, ranging from 16 to 50 years old. The delegation includes 146 male and 166 female athletes, all of whom are amateurs and include workers, students and freelancers.

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games will be held from Oct 18 to 24, featuring more than 500 events across 18 sports, including para swimming, wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball, with more than 3,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions expected to take part.