WASHINGON, October 15. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes that the radical Palestinian movement Hamas will agree to peacefully hand over its weapons.

"First, Hamas has to give up its arms. <…> I hope we can do this peacefully. We're certainly ready to do so," the prime minister told the CBS News TV channel in an interview.

According to Netanyahu, in addition to disarmament, it is necessary to ensure that "there are no weapons factories inside Gaza" and that "there's no smuggling of weapons."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Washington intended to disarm Hamas. At the same time, he emphasized that if the movement refused to give up its weapons voluntarily, it would be disarmed, perhaps even forcefully.

On September 29, the White House released the president’s comprehensive plan to resolve the situation in the Gaza Strip. The document consists of 20 provisions. Notably, it calls for establishing a temporary external administration in the Palestinian enclave and deploying international stabilization forces. On October 9, Trump announced that Israeli and Hamas representatives had agreed on the first step of the peace plan after negotiations. According to Trump, the agreement included the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to an agreed-upon line in Gaza.

On October 13, Hamas and the Palestinian groups supporting it released all of the Israeli hostages. Twenty hostages were handed over to Israeli servicemen under the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. They are already on Israeli territory.