Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a Gaza plan hailed by US President Donald Trump, vowing no military pullout until Hamas is “genuinely” disarmed, and Hamas said the US must pressure Israel to accept the next phase of the Gaza plan.
After more than a week of gradually escalating criticism of the plan, Netanyahu explicitly opposed it as he faced pushback from his right-wing base ahead of elections.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said, referring to a plan endorsed in late July by Hamas.
The Israeli military “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 at a cabinet meeting.
The document, the latest stage in a US-led ceasefire announced in October that has reduced but not ended Israeli operations in Gaza, said Hamas would surrender weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing body.
The plan said Israel would begin pulling out forces in tandem with the disarmament, an idea adamantly rejected by Israel, which also wants Hamas to destroy its weapons.
After meeting Netanyahu last week, Trump’s body implementing the deal, dubbed the Board of Peace, backtracked and said Israel would only need to withdraw after “complete” disarmament.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, who according to polls is in a tight race to stay in power, has faced calls from his far-right allies to hold a new cabinet vote and end the Gaza plan.
Netanyahu said that Israel was speaking with the United States about its objections. “They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters,” he said.
Netanyahu said that Hamas must give up all of its weapons, a goal that Board of Peace members say is not realistically achievable. “We are talking about real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament,” Netanyahu said.
After the Israeli prime minister’s statement, a Hamas official said on Sunday that the US must pressure Israel to accept the next phase of the Gaza plan, after Netanyahu said he rejected the US-backed agreement.
“We expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said.
Netanyahu also vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.
“I want to emphasize once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting. (AFP)
