Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected for the first time the 15-point roadmap put forward by the US-backed Board of Peace for implementing the second phase of the Gaza agreement, saying the Israeli military “will not withdraw from the Strip before Hamas is fully disarmed” and that he “will never accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank.”
The roadmap calls for Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal to proceed gradually and in parallel, with each step verified before the next. Netanyahu’s position would reverse that sequence by requiring complete disarmament before any Israeli withdrawal begins, putting him at odds with a central mechanism of the plan.
Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that “Israel rejects the 15-point document,” adding that he wanted to state his position explicitly after claims that he had not previously done so himself.
He said disarmament, as his government defines it, means “getting rid of all weapons, heavy and light, through genuine rather than cosmetic disarmament,” stressing that the Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal from the Gaza Strip before this process is completed.”
He added that Israel is discussing its objections with the US, saying Washington has “ideas, some acceptable to us and some not acceptable.” He said Israel would continue its military operations in Gaza regardless and reiterated that “there will be no Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank” as long as he remains prime minister.
Netanyahu’s remarks coincide with comments by an unnamed Hamas official to Agence France-Presse confirming that the group remains ready to implement the Gaza agreement, which calls for its disarmament, provided Israel also complies. The official said Israel must implement the first phase, particularly by ending its aggression, allowing sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza, and withdrawing to the Yellow Line.
The Israeli position also comes days after Hamas gave preliminary approval to a disarmament mechanism under the Board of Peace roadmap, according to Palestinian sources who spoke to Al Manassa late last month. The plan would collect and store Palestinian factions’ weapons inside Gaza under the supervision of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), within a Palestinian framework, rather than handing them over to Israel.
The roadmap, originally put forward by the Board of Peace under Mladenov in May, contains 15 points and is based on reciprocity, with each step by one side matched by a corresponding step from the other after verification by an independent international committee.
The plan begins with consolidating the ceasefire, opening crossings, and implementing the humanitarian protocol, followed by the creation of an international verification mechanism. An international stabilization force would then be deployed to oversee the transitional administration and reconstruction, paving the way for the Palestinian Authority to resume governing Gaza.
On security, the plan calls for the gradual disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian factions under Palestinian leadership and international supervision. It specifies that weapons would not be handed to Israel, but to NCAG.
In return, the plan ties the Israeli military’s withdrawal from Gaza to verified stages of the disarmament process, with the withdrawal advancing as further stages are completed. Reconstruction would begin in areas where disarmament has been completed.
The Board of Peace said after an earlier meeting with Netanyahu last week that the Israeli military would not begin withdrawing beyond the Yellow Line until disarmament was completed. It later revised its statement to remove the words “full withdrawal,” a move seen as a sign that negotiations over implementation details are continuing.
