Netanyahu says Israel rejects Trump’s Gaza peace plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the United States-backed plan for ending the war in Gaza. Netanyahu said Israel would not accept the 15-point roadmap, which links Hamas’ disarmament to an eventual Israeli military withdrawal, in its current form.
“Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
“The Israel Defense Forces will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed,” Netanyahu said, adding that this applied to all of the group’s weapons, not just heavy weapons.
The Israeli prime minister also reaffirmed his opposition to an independent Palestinian state.
Netanyahu described US President Donald Trump, who had hailed the Gaza deal as a milestone for peace, as “our greatest friend in the White House” — but quickly made clear he was willing to challenge him, saying Israel was raising its objections with the US.
Trump’s Board of Peace — the international organisation set up to oversee Gaza’s post-war governance and reconstruction — stated nearly a week ago that it expected Israel to make a complete withdrawal from the coastal enclave only after Hamas had been disarmed.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 television that the group’s plan is the “only way forward”.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4xv3IF5
