Kenneth Glad
Diplomatic efforts continue as key parties remain divided over how a proposed framework should be implemented. The outcome could influence the direction of future negotiations and regional stability.
A US-backed 15-point framework for Gaza is facing Israeli opposition over whether Hamas must be fully disarmed before Israeli forces begin any withdrawal from the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the document on Sunday, according to The Guardian, saying Israeli troops would remain in place as long as Hamas continued to possess weapons.
Netanyahu said: “The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”
Withdrawal depends on disarmament
The British newspaper reported that the American framework links Hamas’s disarmament to a phased Israeli military withdrawal and a later transition in Gaza’s administration under a new governing arrangement.
Netanyahu has taken a different position on the timing of those steps. He says Hamas must be fully disarmed before any Israeli withdrawal begins, making disarmament a condition that must be met first.
His office had already objected to the published version of the proposal before the latest remarks, saying the document did not reflect Israel’s positions or the terms it was prepared to accept.
The demand also appears in Netanyahu’s earlier public statements. In a January 26 release published by the Israeli Knesset, and reported by the Times of Israel, he listed the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza among Israel’s objectives for the next phase of the process.
Earlier statements match position
A separate Knesset record from January also documented Netanyahu presenting Hamas’s disarmament and Gaza’s demilitarization as requirements tied to the next stage of the Trump-backed process and Israel’s broader security objectives.
Those records indicate that the demand was publicly stated before the latest disagreement over the 15-point document and was not introduced only in response to the current proposal.
The Guardian reported that Donald Trump’s Board of Peace continues to support the framework despite Netanyahu’s rejection and remains committed to the plan as the basis for further negotiations.
For now, the disagreement affects one of the proposal’s central mechanisms. Israeli forces are expected to withdraw in stages under the US-backed framework, while Netanyahu says that process cannot begin until Hamas has been fully disarmed and the required security conditions have been met.
Sources: The Guardian; Knesset, Times of Israel
