TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a U.S.-backed plan Sunday for Hamas to lay down its weapons in Gaza in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the territory — a proposal President Donald Trump recently touted as a breakthrough toward ending the conflict there.
Netanyahu, at the start of a government meeting, said that “Israel does not accept the 15-point document” and that an Israeli withdrawal will be carried out only after “genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.” His demands included that the Palestinian militant group give up all weapons: “Heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry,” he said.
Israel is “talking with the Americans about this issue,” Netanyahu said. “They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some of which are unacceptable, and we know how to stand firm against these things.”
Hamas said in a statement Sunday that it reaffirms its commitment to the 15-point plan that it agreed on with the Board of Peace, calling on parties to help ensure its implementation. However, the militant group and Israel disagree as to which should come first: Israeli withdrawal or Hamas disarmament.
“The existence of Israel and the security of all Israeli citizens are not up for negotiation. We stand firm on these interests,” Netanyahu said in his remarks Sunday. “Unlike all those who lecture us, we do what needs to be done for Israel’s security, and we can and know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary.”
The Board of Peace, the State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Netanyahu’s stance on the Hamas deal was another setback for Trump’s efforts to address Middle East conflicts.
With Trump’s unpopular war on Iran now in its sixth month, comments from Iranian officials Saturday cast further doubt on an end to hostilities that have driven up global oil prices and dragged down the president’s approval ratings.
Iranian officials on Saturday laid out a list of demands they are seeking from the United States in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including withdrawing U.S. forces from the region, paying war damages and lifting sanctions.
Former defense secretary Mark Esper told ABC News’s “This Week” that Iran’s aggressive demands showed that they have been “emboldened” and feeling “confident about their position in the world.”
However, in an interview with Axios on Sunday, Trump suggested that pressure on Iran was building because of the toll that U.S. strikes and a naval blockade have taken on its economy.
Trump said the U.S. is “only semi-negotiating” with Tehran and ‘low-keying it.”
“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told Axios’s Barak Ravid, “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.”
The Hamas plan was unveiled on July 30 by Trump’s Board of Peace. It gave Hamas and Israel two weeks to agree on a timetable and process for implementing the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
There was almost immediate disagreement on the order in which each should happen. Hamas said Israel must end its military campaign in Gaza as a first step; Israel’s position has been the complete disarmament of Hamas and removal of weapons from Gaza as a prerequisite. That disarmament would see Hamas surrender its weapons, which would be held by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, run by Palestinian technocrats.
Trump, in announcing the plan late last month, said on Truth Social that the Board of Peace — a group that was set up in the aftermath of the 2025 deal to release the remaining hostages that Hamas seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — “reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.”
He called it “a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a video on X, “There is no Hamas in Gaza, that is the goal of the war, and we are committed to it.” He added that “the IDF cannot withdraw a single millimeter from the Gaza Strip … prior to the disarmament of Hamas.”
The 15-point plan also “shall create appropriate conditions for a credible pathway towards achieving Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” the framework states.
But Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated: “As long as I am prime minister, a Palestinian state will not be established.”