In his first public comments on the matter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel has not agreed to the Board of Peace’s Hamas disarmament plan, which was accepted by the terror group last week. Reiterating comments from recent days attributed to “senior Israeli officials,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to Facebook that Israel will not withdraw “from our current lines” in Gaza “until Hamas is completely disarmed.” This would appear to go against the disarmament plan, which requires Israel to pull back to the original Yellow Line in Gaza. Israel withdrew to that line as part of the October 2025 ceasefire-hostage release deal with Hamas, but has since expanded its control of the Strip from 53 percent to over 60%.
While the Board of Peace indicated that Israel would not have to carry out withdrawals beyond the original Yellow Line until Hamas at least begins to hand over its weapons, Netanyahu asserted that Israeli forces will not move at all, as his election campaign kicks into gear. “[US] President [Donald] Trump thinks — or his team thinks — that they can get Hamas to disarm and demilitarize Gaza. We are looking into it. They sent us a draft. We did not agree to it. It was not our draft. We sent back our comments,” Netanyahu said in the video statement.
The “draft” Netanyahu described was not supposed to be open for debate with Israel, as it was the result of separate negotiations between Hamas, the Trump-controlled Board of Peace and mediating countries Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US. A senior US official briefing reporters last week said the disarmament proposal is an extension of Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, which Israel already accepted last fall. Accordingly, Israel is only being asked to maintain its adherence to the 20-point plan, the US official said, adding that Trump would be “very disappointed” in Jerusalem if it blocked the proposal’s advancement. (Ed note: But hasn't President Trump been saying all along that Israel "is on board" with the Gaza plan?) (Read more)
