Hamas says it will not disarm until a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established, despite US envoys' statements to the contrary.

Hamas said Saturday it will not disarm until a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established, after U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the Islamist group was prepared to lay down its weapons.

"We reiterate that resistance and its weapons are a national and legal right as long as the (Israeli) occupation persists," Hamas said in a statement. "We cannot abandon it until our national rights are fully restored, chief among them the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Hamas thus responded to statements attributed to Witkoff by Israeli media. During a meeting with the families of the hostages in Gaza, the US envoy stated that "Hamas has said it is prepared to demilitarize" and that "multiple Arab governments are demanding that Hamas demilitarize," according to audio recordings obtained by the newspaper Haaretz.

Witkoff is credited with the final ceasefire proposal for the Gaza Strip, which Israel and Hamas were negotiating until the talks stalled weeks ago.

This included a 60-day truce in which the Islamists were to release 10 live hostages in Gaza and some 18 dead, and during which the parties would negotiate a definitive end to the Israeli offensive on the enclave.

Israel withdrew its negotiating delegation from Doha, Qatar, claiming that the Islamists were unwilling to negotiate, something the United States countered.

According to the Israeli press, Hamas toughened its demands in the final days of negotiations, demanding a higher than expected number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the hostages in Gaza.

Israel, for its part, is demanding that its war objectives in Gaza be met in order to end its offensive on the enclave, which has claimed the lives of more than 60,000 people.

Among these objectives is the destruction of Hamas's governing and combat capabilities, a red line without which it refuses to conclude the offensive against the enclave.