The Israeli government opposes the US-backed Board of Peace’s 15-point Roadmap for Gaza “in its current form,” Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen said on Saturday, claiming that “Hamas is planning a deception”.
Hamas “will say that it intends to abide by the agreement, hand over some of its weapons, and obtain what we used to call, in the language of the past, a hudna [the Arabic word for ‘truce’ or ‘armistice’. [But] the era of hudna is over,” Cohen told Channel 14.
He continued: “Ultimately, Hamas is a murderous terrorist organisation. We do not believe a single piece of paper that Hamas [signs].”
Hamas violated the Gaza ceasefire 17 times in a single day, Doron Spielman, international spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, claimed on Saturday.
Citing a situation report he received shortly before an interview with US outlet Newsmax, Spielman noted the Friday violations included attempted infiltrations across the Yellow Line, the boundary of IDF control in Gaza, to carry out attacks on Israelis, as well as tunnelling and rearming.
He added that the terrorist organisation is in blatant violation of the 20-point plan brokered by US President Trump, which requires Hamas to lay down its arms.
Spielman drew a sharp distinction between the Trump framework, to which Israel agreed, and a separate 15-point Board of Peace proposal reached with Hamas through Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. Jerusalem is not a party to the newer plan, he said.
Netanyahu publicly rejected the 15-point framework last week, which called for phased disarmament matched by withdrawal of Israeli forces, stating that no withdrawal will occur before Hamas is completely disarmed.
“I am standing firm on our security interests: We will not withdraw from our current lines until Hamas is completely disarmed,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page.
He added that IDF soldiers had been instructed “to do everything necessary to defend themselves, to defend our territory, to defend our citizens”.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas informed the Trump administration that it agrees to the terms of the Roadmap that requires the terrorist group to lay down its weapons and transfer rule over Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian body, AFP reported.
“Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement,” a Hamas official told the news agency.
“Hamas is urging the US administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase,” the unnamed terrorist continued.
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