Israel will unequivocally reject any Gaza Strip ceasefire framework that fails to require the total disarmament of Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new international spokesperson said on Monday, warning that the terrorist group must be completely stripped of its arsenal before Israel considers withdrawing it troops. “The prime minister is not going to do anything that is going to put the Israeli people at risk,” Doron Spielman told JNS, emphasizing that Netanyahu is “aware of Hamas’s intentions” and that the group is “just as committed to terrorism today” as it was when it led the Palestinian massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. “The only thing they’re lacking is the ability” to carry out another atrocity, he added.
Netanyahu insists the terrorist group must “truly disarm” before any agreement moves forward, the spokesperson said. “By truly disarming, I mean all of their weapons are going to be handed over and removed from the area, from Gaza,” Spielman said the premier told him.Netanyahu on Sunday announced that Jerusalem rejects the roadmap on Hamas disarmament announced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace on July 30. If all of the weapons are not removed, it “would enable Hamas to reconstitute itself,” Spielman, appointed to the position on July 1, said in a phone interview from Ma’ale Adumim. “And therefore the 15-point plan is not accepted by Israel because it removes the teeth from the 20-point plan, which is that Hamas has to disarm before anything moves forward.”
Trump introduced the 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September of last year, requiring Hamas to lay down its arms, and Jerusalem accepted the framework. The recent 15-point plan was reached with Hamas terrorists through Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, and Jerusalem is not a party to it.
However, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for the Strip, told Channel 12 on Sunday that the 15-point roadmap does not require an IDF pullback from the Yellow Line until Hamas’s disarmament is verified “sector by sector” under American-led oversight. Stressing that the framework relies on proof rather than trust, Mladenov said that weapons—including personal firearms—would be collected and tunnels systematically destroyed before military withdrawals occur, adding that the plan’s goal is “to make sure that Gaza is never again a threat to Israeli security.” (Read more)
However, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for the Strip, told Channel 12 on Sunday that the 15-point roadmap does not require an IDF pullback from the Yellow Line until Hamas’s disarmament is verified “sector by sector” under American-led oversight. Stressing that the framework relies on proof rather than trust, Mladenov said that weapons—including personal firearms—would be collected and tunnels systematically destroyed before military withdrawals occur, adding that the plan’s goal is “to make sure that Gaza is never again a threat to Israeli security.” (Read more)
