In total, 17 countries, plus the EU and the Arab League, are behind the formulations agreed upon during the UN conference at the beginning of the week.
"To put an end to the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority (which governs the West Bank), with international engagement and support, in line with the goal of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state", it says in the declaration.
The text also condemns Hamas' coordinated and deadly attack on Israel in 2023.
Historically difficult
Anders Persson, a Middle East expert at Linnaeus University, sees this type of diplomatic pressure on Hamas from the Arab League as significant, but that Hamas has historically been a group that is difficult to pressure into concessions.
Israel has executed large parts of Hamas' leadership, Qatar has previously said that they have thrown out leading figures, the US has pressed in various ways, Gaza has been under blockade really on the verge of a massive famine catastrophe and yet not yielded, he says to TT.
Hamas has not commented on the appeal, but according to Anders Persson, there is a possibility that Hamas will welcome the proposal as a tactic to put pressure on Israel. At the same time, Hamas has previously opened up to releasing civilian control over Gaza and letting someone else govern, but said that the group is not willing to give up its weapons, Persson reports.
Diplomatic tsunami
The appeal comes after another from the Palestinian delegation to the UN that both Israel and Hamas should leave Gaza, so that the Palestinian Authority can govern the area. Anders Persson describes the type of pressure that the world's countries are now directing towards the parties, but above all Israel, as a beginning diplomatic tsunami and that the various diplomatic initiatives reinforce each other.
These initiatives we see aim to pressure a permanent ceasefire and an end to the war, says Persson.
Persson believes that we are seeing the beginning of a process with further pressure on the parties, but that it is difficult to say what it will result in.
There is also a risk that this will become a big inflated balloon that will then burst and that the effect will not be particularly large in the end, he says.
