Israel will not accept the 15-point plan for Gaza set out by President Donald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to clarify this: Israel rejects the 15-point document. I have heard people saying, \u2018You didn\u2019t say that.\u2019 So here I am saying it again,\u201d he told a Cabinet meeting, referring to the peace plan set out by Trump last year. \u201cThe IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Trump last month touted a breakthrough in his Gaza peace plan, saying that Hamas has agreed to lay down arms.<\/p>\n
The peace plan called for a phased withdrawal of Israel\u2019s troops from Gaza alongside the disarmament of Hamas, but Netanyahu said that Israeli forces are not going anywhere until Hamas completely disarms first.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I say Hamas must be disarmed, I mean heavy weapons, lighter weapons, all weapons. We are talking about genuine disarmament, not a fictitious one,\u201d Netanyahu said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Hamas had last month said that it would disarm, but only after Israel withdraws completely and stops all hostilities. The group also said that laying down its heavy weapons would come later in the process, conditional on the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, meanwhile, reaffirmed that \u201cas long as I am prime minister, there will be no Palestinian state.\u201d The leader is currently facing a domestic political battle for survival ahead of elections set for October, with the status of the Gaza and Iran conflicts likely to prove pivotal.<\/p>\n
The explicit rejection of the peace plan, frequently touted by Trump as a key foreign policy achievement, also comes after months of growing tensions between the White House and Israel\u2019s leadership over Iran. The White House did not immediately comment on the remarks.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said of Washington: \u201cWe are currently discussing this issue with the Americans. They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand firm on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israeli leader may consider it worthwhile to \u201center a new confrontation with President Trump,\u201d said Ronni Shaked, a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as his own popularity wanes ahead of October\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter three years, he is without any victory, and he just wants to show now to the people of Israel, before the election, that look at me, I have victory, and the victory is that we are going to disarm Hamas,\u201d Shaked said in a phone interview, referring to the tactic as an \u201cillusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to Netanyahu\u2019s statement Sunday, senior Hamas official Basim Naeem said that the group expects the mediators and the U.S. to \u201cexert pressure\u201d on Netanyahu and his government to abide by the road map and \u201cprevent him from obstructing the process for domestic political and electoral considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n
A further Hamas statement reaffirmed its commitment to the agreed-upon roadmap, reiterating the group\u2019s \u201cseriousness in engaging responsibly in implementing the fifteen points agreed upon and establishing a clear timetable for their implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mohammad Dahlan, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that Netanyahu\u2019s announcement \u201crepresents a challenge, contempt, and deception of the American administration and President Trump\u2019s team,\u201d adding that Washington \u201cnow realizes that Netanyahu is an obstacle to achieving security and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed his announcement after seeking to pressure the leader into a more hardline stance. \u201cI congratulate the Prime Minister for responding to our demand and clarifying unequivocally,\u201d he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n