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Netanyahu rejects 15 points
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel rejects the 15-point Gaza framework put forward by President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, insisting that the IDF will not withdraw until Hamas is “truly disarmed.”
““Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said”
Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting, “Israel rejects the 15-point document,” and added, “The IDF will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed.”
The ABC News report linked Trump’s Board of Peace proposal to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed last year, under which Trump said Hamas would disarm and the Israel Defense Forces would withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
The Jerusalem Post reported that, despite Netanyahu’s public rejection, Israel has refrained from carrying out targeted killings for several days and maintained the ceasefire in Gaza, with an IDF directive issued Monday evening by Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir following an instruction from political leadership.
The Jerusalem Post also said the IDF is positioned along the original Yellow Line encompassing approximately 53% of the Gaza Strip, with no current positions or forces deployed beyond.
Hamas presses back
Hamas did not immediately comment on Netanyahu’s Sunday announcement in ABC News’s account, but the CNN report quoted Hamas’ Bassem Naim saying, “We expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap.”
CNN also reported that Netanyahu said, “I want to be precise here: Israel rejects the 15-point document,” and that he warned the Israeli military would “not withdraw at all until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”
The Washington Post described Netanyahu’s rejection as a refusal of a U.S.-backed plan for Hamas to lay down its weapons in Gaza in exchange for Israeli withdrawal, a proposal Trump recently touted as a breakthrough toward ending the conflict.
Sky News reported that Netanyahu said his military will not make “any withdrawal” from the Palestinian territory until Hamas fully disarms, and that he insisted there will be no Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank as long as he is PM.
In parallel, Sky News said Israel scaled back attacks on the enclave following Monday’s meeting between Netanyahu and Nikolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy of the board overseeing the ceasefire.
What’s at stake next
The dispute over disarmament and withdrawal is tied to the roadmap’s timetable and implementation mechanisms, which the Ynetnews report said would be prepared within 14 days after all parties approve it, with the period subject to extension by decision of the International Verification Committee, or IVC.
“within 14 days after all parties approve it”
Ynetnews also said the plan calls for Hamas and the Palestinian factions to complete the cessation of all military operations in accordance with the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement and the peace plan, while the second clause calls on Israel to complete without delay all its remaining obligations under the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, particularly the cessation of military operations.
The Jerusalem Post framed Gaza reconstruction as a key sticking point, saying Israeli statements were “unequivocal and dramatic” that there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before Hamas is fully disarmed.
In the same Jerusalem Post account, it described a distinction in the Board of Peace position between temporary structures built in the Rafah area and permanent reconstruction, while noting that Israel’s practical activities there appeared consistent with that distinction.
Meanwhile, the CNN report said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aati emphasized that all parties must “fulfill their commitments and refrain from taking any actions that could hinder the implementation process or undermine the progress achieved.”
