Netanyahu rejects Gaza plan, insists Hamas disarm before any Israeli withdrawal
Netanyahu rejects Trump's Gaza plan, insisting on full Hamas disarmament before any Israeli withdrawal, while Hamas demands a halt to attacks first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected the latest Gaza peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, reiterating that Israeli forces will not withdraw from the enclave until Hamas is completely disarmed.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel does not accept the 15-point document. "The military will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed... it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry," he said, adding that the disarmament must be genuine and not fictitious.
The comments come as Israel has significantly scaled back its military operations in Gaza since Monday, when the US envoy for the Gaza ceasefire met with Netanyahu. A source familiar with Israel's position said the military has agreed to act only against immediate threats and has halted its near-daily targeted assassinations.
Hamas, for its part, says it remains committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators in Cairo ten days ago. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the group expects mediators and the US guarantor to press Netanyahu to adhere to the plan and not obstruct the process for internal political reasons.
The two sides remain at odds over the sequencing of commitments. Israel insists on disarmament before any troop movement, while Hamas says it will only begin implementing the arms-related provisions after Israel halts attacks.
Netanyahu, who faces an election on October 27, is caught between far-right ministers demanding a hardline stance and Trump, who wants progress toward ending the conflict. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised Netanyahu, saying the military cannot withdraw even a millimeter from Gaza before the complete dismantling of Hamas.
Hamas has avoided using the term "disarmament," instead saying it agreed to hand over weapons to a US-backed Palestinian technocrat administration under the supervision of Trump's Board of Peace. The group said it agreed to the plan to spare Gaza's people a resumption of war but stressed that implementation depends on Israel meeting its own commitments first.
More than 1,250 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Israeli troops have occupied two-thirds of the enclave, leaving most of its 2 million residents confined to a small coastal strip under Hamas control.