Israel has rejected the 15-point plan for Gaza presented by United States President Donald Trump through the so-called Peace Board, and will not withdraw until Hamas is completely disarmed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared this Sunday. The Palestinian militia has stated that it maintains a “firm commitment” to the agreement, despite the opposition of the Israeli government.
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Trump announced on July 31 that progress had been made in his plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas adhered to last year and which began with the ceasefire. But Israel has continued carrying out attacks against Gaza and Israeli troops have killed more than 1,250 Palestinians since agreeing to that ceasefire last October.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document. The Israel Defense Forces will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed. And when I say ‘disarm Hamas,’ I mean both heavy and light weapons: all weapons,” he said in a video posted on social media. The Israeli prime minister assured that they are in talks with the U.S. side after rejecting the agreement, which had been accepted by Hamas and other armed Palestinian militias.
“They have ideas; some of them are acceptable and others are not, and we know how to stand firm against these things,” Netanyahu argued. “The existence of Israel and the security of all Israeli citizens are not subject to negotiation. We stand firm on these interests,” he expressed. He also reiterated that as long as he is prime minister, there will be no Palestinian state.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, declared this Sunday that the group maintained its commitment to the agreement reached in Cairo 10 days ago. “We hope that the mediators and the United States, as guarantor, will pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons, thus endangering the security and stability of the region,” he said, according to the Reuters agency.
Netanyahu’s statements come after the director general of the Peace Board for Gaza, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, announced progress in the plan for Gaza and Trump stated that there was an agreement to disarm Hamas. The Islamist militia had made it clear that it was willing to hand over weapons as long as the Israeli government fulfilled the commitments it had signed after the ceasefire. “If Israel does not comply with the agreement, we will not comply either,” summarized a member of Hamas’s negotiating team, Ghazi Hamad, after the disarmament plan announcement.
According to the pact, Hamas would gradually hand over its weapons to the National Committee, the panel of Palestinian technocrats that would assume day-to-day administration in the Strip, replacing the Islamist movement that has governed it since 2007. The text also obliges Israel to “fully and without delay complete” its pending commitments and specifies “the cessation of military operations.”
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The agreement also states that the disarmament of Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip are “linked” and will be done “in phases,” based on a schedule to be agreed upon. Mladenov also mentioned this in his message announcing the pact: “The withdrawal must go hand in hand with disarmament.”
Trump had said he was “very happy” about the progress in the disarmament negotiations, after an “understanding” on the plan was reached with Netanyahu’s government. Despite Washington’s optimism, Israeli authorities did not comment in the hours following the announcement.
An official source, however, then indicated under anonymity that their country demanded the total demilitarization of the Strip and the complete disarmament of Hamas as a “precondition for any process.” “The document does not offer a satisfactory response to these demands and Israel has communicated its objections,” that source added. Some members of Netanyahu’s government, such as the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, did not hide their discontent and called the agreement “unacceptable.”
Sunday’s announcement by the prime minister confirms Israel’s rejection of the plan promoted by the White House and raises new doubts after several months of negotiations. The far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised Netanyahu. “We went to war with a central objective: the destruction of Hamas,” he said in a statement. “The army cannot withdraw even a millimeter from the Gaza Strip,” he added and said that the reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave will not take place until “the complete dismantling and demobilization of Hamas” is realized.
“I greatly appreciate President Trump, he is the best of our friends in the White House,” Netanyahu said during the message, in which he reviewed the fronts his country has open in the Middle East, such as Iran or Lebanon. The prime minister is in the middle of a campaign seeking re-election in the elections scheduled for October 27, but is caught between the demands of far-right ministers, irritated by concessions in Gaza, and those of Trump, his main military ally. The Republican wants to move toward ending a conflict that has hurt him in the polls, less than three months before Americans also go to the polls on November 3 for the midterm elections.
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