Benjamin Netanyahu Rejects Trump’s 15-Point Gaza Plan, Refuses Withdrawal Until Hamas Is Disarmed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Donald Trump’s 15-point plan for Gaza on Sunday, saying “Israel rejects the 15-point document” and that the Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”

“Israel rejects the 15-point document”

BBC

Reuters said Trump’s latest plan hinges on Hamas laying down its arms as Israel withdraws, with Hamas endorsing the roadmap while Israel rejected it until disarmament is complete.

Al-Jazira Net

The Reuters report said the roadmap links Israeli withdrawal to the disarming of all militias, including Hamas, and calls for a new technocratic government known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to oversee decommissioning and storage of heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels.

Reuters also described how Israel scaled back its attacks in Gaza since Trump announced his plan, with Israeli officials saying it would act against immediate threats but would no longer carry out targeted assassinations.

The BBC reported that Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that the Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” while a Hamas official told the BBC the group “reaffirms it commitment” and was ready “to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing” the 15-point plan.

The BBC said a senior Board of Peace official insisted the US-backed peace plan for the territory remained the only way forward, while Hamas protested that handing over heavy weapons was contingent on Israel ending “all forms of aggression” and withdrawing its forces from Gaza.

In the same BBC account, Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that Israel “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” and the BBC quoted a Hamas official saying the group was ready “to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing” the 15-point plan.

BBC

Reuters reported that Hamas endorsed the roadmap but protested when the Board of Peace later posted on X that it should give up light weapons such as guns and that Israel would only withdraw once disarmament was complete.

Reuters also said Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov confirmed the process would be phased and carried out “sector by sector,” with Israel required to withdraw each time a designated area is verified to be effectively weapon-free.

The BBC added that Mladenov defended the plan as “the only way forward” and said it was built on a process that was “verifiable, that is reversible, that at each stage can be stopped,” while Israel would not be required to withdraw until it could be verified Hamas was taking steps to disarm.

The dispute over sequence—whether Hamas disarms before Israel withdraws or vice versa—was central to Netanyahu’s rejection and to Hamas’s insistence on conditions, with the BBC describing Israel’s position as requiring Hamas to be “genuinely” disarmed before any pull-out.

“it was ready "to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing"”

BBC

Reuters said the roadmap envisions Israel withdrawing from Gaza as Hamas and other militants decommission and store heavy weapons, while a temporary peacekeeping body known as the “International Stabilization Force” would deploy to secure areas from which Israeli forces withdraw and train new Palestinian police forces.

The BBC reported that Netanyahu’s rejection signaled another blow for Trump’s Gaza peace plan announced in September last year, and it tied the political stakes to the fact that “it’s just over a week since Trump announced what he called a "monumental step toward lasting peace and security".”

Reuters said the Board of Peace has been setting up a base in Israel near the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza as a logistics and staging area for ISF troops, while diplomats said the ISF is still likely months away from deployment and only Morocco and Uganda have pledged troops.

The BBC also framed the broader humanitarian and displacement stakes by citing the United Nations estimate that about 1.9 million people—90% of Gaza’s population—have been displaced since the war began, while the BBC noted the war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.