Netanyahu says Israel rejects US Board of Peace plan for Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has rejected United States President Donald ⁠⁠Trump’s Board of Peace plan for Gaza and will not ⁠⁠withdraw forces until the Palestinian group Hamas ⁠⁠fully disarms.

“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, referring to the plan endorsed last month by Hamas.

The Israeli army “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed … and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens”.

He added that Israel is “talking to the Americans about this issue”.

“They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some are not acceptable to us, and we know how to stand firm on these things,” the prime minister said.

There was no immediate response from the White House or Hamas.

Israel has continued ⁠⁠to carry out near-daily deadly attacks across the Gaza Strip since agreeing to a “ceasefire” with Hamas last ⁠⁠October.

Trump announced on July 30 a “historic” agreement that entailed “the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”, which he called “a monumental step toward lasting peace and security”.

But last week, the US-led Board of Peace said an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would only happen after the disarmament of Hamas is complete, following a meeting between the body’s director, Nickolay Mladenov, and Netanyahu.

Speaking to his cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu vowed that “as long as I am prime minister, no Palestinian state will arise” and emphasised that Israel would not abide by the US-backed plan.

Israel’s desire for “real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament” would mean the removal of all weaponry, including lighter weapons, he said.

The 15-point plan calls for initially focusing on Hamas’s heavy weaponry, military production sites, weapons depots and the group’s extensive tunnel network.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said Netanyahu’s statement raises “serious questions” for Palestinians about the path out of hostilities.

“The full rejection here puts the sequencing and the steps into question,” Mahmoud said.

Reporting from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said Netanyahu’s stated conditions could prove “extremely problematic for the Board of Peace and the mediators who have been working for months now to try to carry out the disarmament of Hamas”.

The roadmap would eventually involve transferring Gaza’s day-to-day administration to a technocratic Palestinian committee operating under the oversight of the Board of Peace.

But the board – which was established by Trump – has “very limited power” to move forward without Israeli support, Odeh said.

“Netanyahu has hit the reset button,” she said.

Since Hamas and Israel agreed to a “ceasefire” last October, experts have expressed scepticism that Israel would honour the agreement as its forces have continued to pummel Gaza, killing hundreds of people.

Since the “ceasefire” started in mid-October last year, at least 1,250 people have been killed and 4,120 wounded with more than 800 bodies recovered from rubble, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The overall death toll in Gaza since October 2023 is at least 73,300 and 174,000 wounded.