Israel will not agree to the proposed agreement for Gaza announced by Donald Trump last month until Hamas is disarmed, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.
Referring to the Board of Peace roadmap announced by the US president on July 30, the premier told a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem: “Israel rejects the 15-point document.”
He said that there had to be “real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament” by the terrorist group, and that Hamas must give up its “heavy weapons, the less heavy weapons, all the weapons”.
The roadmap document had outlined that there would be “a phased Israeli withdrawal".
Netanyahu said that his government in talking to the US administration on the way forward for Gaza.
He added that the Americans “have ideas, some of them acceptable to us and some not acceptable to us”.
Netanyahu vowed that the IDF will continue to thwart threats against Israeli forces and civilians.
Also today, a Hamas official spoke to the BBC to say that the organisation "reaffirms it commitment" to the proposed 15-point plan and claimed that it was ready "to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing" the agreement.
The terror group spokesman called on mediators to ensure "that all parties comply with what has been agreed",
On Saturday, Israeli Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen had said that Jerusalem opposes the 15-point Roadmap for Gaza “in its current form,” adding 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. [But] the era of hudna is over,” Cohen told Israel’s Channel 14 broadcaster.
“Hudna” means truce or armistice in Arabic. Hamas has used ceasefires in the past only to regroup ahead of renewed assaults on the Jewish state.
Cohen continued, “Ultimately, Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization. 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, Netanyahu’s international spokesman, said on Saturday.
Citing a situation report he received shortly before an interview with Newsmax host Tom Basile, Spielman noted the Friday violations included attempted infiltrations across the Yellow Line to carry out attacks on Israelis, as well as tunneling and rearming.
He added that the terrorist organization is in blatant violation of the 20-point plan brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, which requires Hamas to lay down its arms.
Spielman drew a sharp distinction between the Trump framework, to which Israel agreed, and the 15-point BoP proposal reached with Hamas terrorists 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, stating that no Israeli withdrawal will occur before full disarmament.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas informed the Trump administration that it agrees to the terms of the Roadmap, which 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 U.S. administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase,” the unnamed terrorist continued.
On Thursday, Netanyahu pledged that Israel will not pull back from its current positions in the Gaza Strip until 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.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and his team believe they can persuade Hamas to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, he said, adding, “We are examining that.”
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