Netanyahu rejects Trump's Gaza roadmap as Israel scales back strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his rejection of the latest Gaza peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, insisting that no Israeli troop withdrawal will take place until Hamas is fully 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," he said, adding that this applies to heavy and light weaponry alike. He noted that talks with Washington were ongoing, with some US ideas acceptable and others not.

The remarks come as Israel has effectively halted its attacks in Gaza since Monday, when Nikolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy for Trump's Board of Peace, met with Netanyahu. A source familiar with Israel's position said the military would now only respond to immediate threats and would no longer carry out targeted assassinations, which had been happening on a near-daily basis.

Mladenov said on Sunday that discussions on the new roadmap were continuing. In an interview with Israeli media, he said Israel would be required to withdraw "sector by sector" once weapons have been taken from Hamas and rendered unusable.

Hamas, for its part, says it remains committed to the roadmap agreed in Cairo ten days ago. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim called on 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. Trump announced last month that both parties had agreed to a breakthrough plan under which Israeli forces would withdraw as Hamas disarms, with an International Stabilization Force working alongside a new Palestinian police force.

Hamas avoids the term "disarmament," saying it agreed to hand over weapons for storage under a US-backed Palestinian technocrat administration, supervised by Trump's Board of Peace. The group says implementation depends on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawal and halting attacks.

Netanyahu faces domestic pressure from far-right ministers. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the prime minister, saying the military cannot withdraw "even a millimetre" from Gaza, and that the destruction of Hamas remains a central war goal.

Since the US-mediated ceasefire in October 2025, more than 1,250 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Israeli troops have occupied and depopulated two-thirds of the enclave, leaving most of its more than 2 million residents confined to a small strip of land under Hamas control along the coast.