Monday, August 10, 2026 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he has rejected President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza and will not withdraw forces until the Palestinian group Hamas fully disarms, risking more obstacles in the increasingly complex efforts to reduce escalation on multiple fronts in the region
“Israel
rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday,
referring to the plan endorsed last month by Hamas. The Israeli army “will not
carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed … and will continue
to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens”, Netanyahu said, adding
that Israel is “talking to the Americans about this issue”. “
They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some are not acceptable
to us, and we know how to stand firm on these things,” Netanyahu said.
There was no immediate response from the White House. In a
statement published on Telegram later on Sunday, Hamas said it remained
committed to fully implementing the plan.
The Palestinian armed group called on mediators and
guarantor countries to “assume their responsibilities” and prevent any
“violations or breaches” that could derail the process.
Israel has continued to carry out near-daily deadly attacks
across the Gaza Strip regardless of a so-called “ceasefire” with Hamas last
October. Trump announced a “historic” agreement on July 30 that entailed “the
complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”, which he
called “a monumental step toward lasting peace and security”.
The deal was credited to the US-led Board of Peace,
inaugurated in February 2026 and including roughly 40 countries, including
Israel and several Arab states, though no Palestinian representatives, with
Trump installed as its chair for life.
Speaking to his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu vowed that “as
long as I am prime minister, no Palestinian state will arise” and emphasized
that Israel would not abide by the US-backed plan. Israel’s desire for “real
disarmament, not fictitious disarmament” would mean the removal of all
weaponry, including lighter weapons, he said.
The 15-point plan calls for initially focusing on Hamas’s
heavy weaponry, military production sites, weapons depots, and the group’s
extensive tunnel network. Netanyahu is playing a “very dangerous game” with
Trump. Israel is becoming increasingly unpopular in the US, with the Democratic
Party “very much sliding towards the Palestinian cause.”
Furthermore, Trump could decide to “say it is time to split
with Israel”, which would likely see many in the Republican Party, “the last
staunchest ally of Israel in the US”, follow suit. Netanyahu’s statement raises
“serious questions” for Palestinians about the path out of hostilities.
“The full
rejection here puts the sequencing and the steps into question.”Netanyahu’s
stated conditions could prove “extremely problematic for the Board of Peace and
the mediators who have been working for months now to try to carry out the
disarmament of Hamas.
The roadmap would eventually involve transferring Gaza’s
day-to-day administration to a technocratic Palestinian committee operating
under the oversight of the Board of Peace. But the board has “very limited
power” to move forward without Israeli support
“Netanyahu
has hit the reset button.” Since Hamas and Israel agreed to a nominal ceasefire
last October, experts have expressed skepticism that Israel would honor the
agreement as its forces have continued to pummel Gaza, killing hundreds of
people.
At least one child was injured in Israeli army gunfire in
the Al-Najjar neighbourhood of Khan Younis on Sunday, the Palestinian Wafa news
agency reported.Since the “ceasefire” started in mid-October last year, at
least 1,258 people have been killed and 4,139 wounded with more than 800 bodies
recovered from rubble, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The overall death
toll in Gaza since October 2023 is at least 73,386 and 174,250 wounded.
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