Gaza Peace Hopes Face Setback As Israel Rejects Plan Without Hamas Disarmament

Israel has rejected US President Donald Trump’s reported 15-point peace plan for Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israeli forces will not withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed. The position puts Israel at odds with Hamas, which had said it was prepared to move forward with the US-backed framework and enter its proposed second phase. The disagreement over disarmament and an Israeli military withdrawal now represents a major obstacle to the plan.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel did not accept the 15-point document in its current form. Referring to the Israel Defence Forces, he said the military would not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas was “genuinely disarmed”. Netanyahu also said Israeli forces would continue taking action against what he described as threats to Israeli troops and citizens. His comments made Hamas's disarmament a central condition for any change in Israel's military posture in Gaza.

Hamas had taken a different position on the proposed framework. According to an official quoted by AFP on Saturday, Hamas and other factions had informed mediators that they were ready to begin implementing the agreement and proceed to the second phase, provided Israel approved the arrangement and began implementing its own commitments. Under the reported next stage, Hamas operatives would hand over their weapons to a proposed Palestinian governing committee intended to administer the war-battered territory.

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The competing positions expose the difficulties surrounding any attempt to move the conflict into a new political and security phase. While Hamas has indicated a willingness to discuss the transfer of weapons and implementation of the proposed framework, Israel is demanding complete disarmament before withdrawing its forces. The two sides therefore remain divided over one of the plan’s most consequential questions: whether Israeli withdrawal should precede, accompany or follow the dismantling of Hamas’s armed capabilities.

The dispute comes amid wider international pressure over the war in Gaza and efforts to advance a political framework for ending the conflict. Days before Netanyahu's latest statement, the United Arab Emirates and seven other Muslim-majority countries issued a joint declaration criticising Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The countries warned that Israel’s actions risked undermining the US-backed peace framework and preventing progress towards ending the conflict.

The international response reflects the growing concern that continued military operations could make it more difficult to implement any negotiated settlement. At the same time, Israel maintains that removing the threat posed by Hamas is essential to its security and has linked any military withdrawal to the group’s disarmament. Hamas, meanwhile, has indicated that it is prepared to engage with the proposed framework through mediators, but has conditioned implementation on reciprocal Israeli action.

The future of the US-backed plan will therefore depend heavily on whether the gap between the Israeli and Hamas positions can be narrowed. Netanyahu's rejection of the document in its current form means that Israeli approval remains a significant hurdle, while Hamas has said it is ready to proceed if Israel fulfils its side of the proposed agreement. With questions surrounding disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and governance in Gaza still unresolved, the peace initiative faces a difficult path towards implementation.

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