Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his rejection of US President Donald Trump’s recent Gaza peace proposal during a televised address to his right-wing cabinet on Sunday. This stance comes despite Israel’s military significantly reducing its operations in Gaza under pressure from the US administration.
Netanyahu, currently campaigning for re-election in the October 27 vote, faces a delicate balancing act between far-right ministers opposed to any concessions in Gaza and Trump, who is pushing for progress through a new 15-point peace framework aimed at ending the conflict.
Since Monday, Israel has curtailed its attacks in Gaza following discussions between Netanyahu and Nikolay Mladenov, the US envoy overseeing the Gaza ceasefire. Israel agreed that its military would now respond only to immediate threats rather than conducting near-daily targeted assassinations.
In a significant development, both Israel and Hamas have expressed conflicting views on the timing of implementing Trump’s peace plan. Last month, Trump announced a breakthrough agreement involving Israeli withdrawal contingent on Hamas disarming, with an International Stabilization Force and a new Palestinian police force securing the territory.
However, Israel insists that its forces will not withdraw until Hamas has fully disarmed, while Hamas demands that Israel cease hostilities before it begins relinquishing arms. Netanyahu stated at a cabinet meeting that Israel does not accept the 15-point document as it stands, emphasizing that withdrawal will only occur after Hamas is genuinely disarmed of all weaponry, both heavy and light.
He clarified that Israel is engaged in ongoing talks with the United States regarding the plan, noting that some US proposals are acceptable while others are not. Netanyahu echoed these sentiments in a social media post earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, reaffirmed the group’s commitment to the roadmap agreed upon with mediators in Cairo ten days ago. He urged mediators and the US to pressure Netanyahu’s government to adhere to the agreement and avoid obstructing the process for political or electoral reasons, warning that continued obstruction threatens regional security and stability.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed strong support for Netanyahu’s position, stating that the war’s primary objective is the destruction of Hamas. He insisted that Israeli forces must not retreat even slightly from Gaza and that reconstruction efforts cannot begin until Hamas is completely dismantled and demobilized.
Trump previously stated that Hamas, which has governed Gaza for nearly two decades and launched the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the current war, had agreed to disarm. However, Hamas avoids the term “disarmament,” instead agreeing to transfer weapons to be stored under a US-backed Palestinian technocrat administration overseeing Gaza under the supervision of Trump’s Board of Peace.
Hamas agreed to the plan to prevent further conflict but emphasized that its implementation depends on Israel fulfilling its commitments first, including troop withdrawal.
Since the US-mediated ceasefire agreement in October, Israel vowed to target every militant involved in the October 2023 attack before halting targeted strikes, which ceased on Monday. Gaza health officials report that over 1,250 people, mostly civilians, have died in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, while Hamas has not disclosed its fighter casualties.
Israeli forces have occupied and depopulated two-thirds of Gaza, confining nearly all of its over 2 million residents to a small coastal strip controlled by Hamas, many living in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.
