Several major Arab powers—including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar—have joined Western nations and the European Union in a unified call for Hamas to relinquish its rule over Gaza and disarm, marking a dramatic break from past regional alignments and a potentially historic turn in Middle East diplomacy.

The call comes in a seven-page declaration issued at a high-level United Nations conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, aimed at reviving momentum for a two-state solution. Seventeen countries, along with the EU and the Arab League, endorsed the document, which urges Hamas to “end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority,” with the backing of the international community.

The declaration explicitly condemns Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre, which ignited the current war in Gaza and left over a thousand Israelis dead in the most brutal attack in the nation’s history.

“For the first time, Arab countries and those in the Middle East condemn Hamas, condemn October 7, call for the disarmament of Hamas, call for its exclusion from Palestinian governance, and clearly express their intention to normalize relations with Israel in the future,” declared French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, hailing the statement as “historic and unprecedented.”

France, co-chairing the conference alongside Saudi Arabia, was joined by Britain, Canada, and a host of Western governments in backing the initiative. Though Israel and the United States did not participate in the talks, the declaration proposes sweeping changes to the political order in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilization mission—under United Nations mandate and in coordination with the Palestinian Authority—to oversee the post-war transition.

“We supported the deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission upon invitation by the Palestinian Authority and under the aegis of the United Nations and in line with UN principles,” the statement reads.

The conference’s outcomes suggest a rare convergence of interests between Arab and Western nations—most notably, a growing willingness in the Arab world to publicly challenge Hamas and openly discuss normalization with Israel.

Whether the declaration translates into tangible pressure on the ground remains to be seen. But with Gaza still mired in war and humanitarian catastrophe, the unified stance represents a major political blow to Hamas and a potentially transformative moment in the region’s long and bloody conflict.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)