Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a US-backed plan for Gaza and insisted that Israeli forces will not withdraw from the territory until Hamas is fully disarmed.
Netanyahu made the position known during a cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying Israel had rejected the 15-point document endorsed by Hamas and would continue military operations against perceived threats.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Israeli army “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed”.
He said Israel would continue to protect its forces and citizens while discussions with the United States over the plan continue.
“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,” Netanyahu said.
There was no immediate response from the White House.
Hamas, however, said in a statement published on Telegram that it remained committed to fully implementing the plan and called on mediators and guarantor countries to ensure that the agreement was not violated.
The development threatens to complicate efforts to reduce tensions in Gaza and advance a broader ceasefire arrangement.
US President Donald Trump announced what he described as a “historic” agreement on July 30, with the plan calling for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups operating in Gaza.
The agreement was reportedly developed under the US-led Board of Peace, which was inaugurated in February 2026 and includes about 40 countries, among them Israel and several Arab states.
Speaking to his cabinet, Netanyahu also declared that no Palestinian state would be established as long as he remained prime minister.
He stressed that Israel was seeking “real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament”, arguing that the process should include the removal of all weapons, including lighter arms.
The 15-point plan initially focuses on Hamas’s heavy weapons, military production facilities, weapons depots and tunnel network. It would eventually transfer day-to-day administration of Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian committee operating under the supervision of the Board of Peace.
However, analysts have warned that Netanyahu’s rejection of the proposed sequencing could create fresh obstacles for mediators seeking to implement the agreement.
The dispute comes amid continued violence in Gaza despite a ceasefire announced last October. Palestinian authorities and international observers have continued to report deadly Israeli attacks across the territory.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that at least one child was injured by Israeli army gunfire in the Al-Najjar neighbourhood of Khan Younis on Sunday.
According to figures from Gaza’s health ministry cited in the report, at least 1,258 people have been killed and 4,139 wounded since the ceasefire began in mid-October last year, while more than 800 bodies have reportedly been recovered from the rubble.
The ministry puts the overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza since October 2023 at at least 73,386, with 174,250 people wounded.
