Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed 15-point Gaza roadmap, amid continued U.S. pressure and a recent reduction in Israeli military operations in the territory.
Netanyahu, facing a re-election campaign ahead of the October 27 vote, is caught between far-right allies calling for tougher action against Hamas and Trump, who is pushing for progress towards ending the conflict.
Israel reportedly reduced its attacks in Gaza after Trump’s Gaza envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, met with Netanyahu on Monday. A source familiar with Israel’s position said Israeli forces would now act only against perceived immediate threats and had stopped targeted assassinations.
Mladenov said on Sunday that “negotiations over Trump’s roadmap were still continuing.”
Dispute
President Trump had announced a breakthrough in his plan last month, saying “Israel and Hamas had agreed to a framework involving an Israeli withdrawal, Hamas handing over its weapons, and the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force alongside a new Palestinian police force.”
However, disagreements have emerged over how and when the plan should be implemented.
“Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
He added that the Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed … it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry.”
Mladenov said Israel would have to withdraw “sector by sector” after Hamas’s weapons had been removed and rendered unusable.
Hamas official Basem Naim said “the group remained committed to the roadmap agreed in Cairo and urged the mediators and Washington to pressure Netanyahu to implement the agreement.”
“We expect the mediators and the U.S. guarantor to press Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons,” he said.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed Netanyahu’s position, declaring: “We went to war with a central goal: the destruction of Hamas,” and insisting that “The military cannot withdraw even a millimetre from the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas has avoided describing its commitment as “disarmament”, saying instead that its weapons would be handed over for storage under a U.S.-backed Palestinian technocrat administration overseeing Gaza under Trump’s Board of Peace.
The group has also insisted that implementation depends on Israel fulfilling its own commitments, including withdrawing forces and ending attacks.
Since the U.S.-mediated ceasefire in October 2025, Gaza health officials say “more than 1,250 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, most of them civilians. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during the same period.”
Israeli forces currently control and have depopulated about two-thirds of Gaza, leaving most of the enclave’s more than two million residents concentrated in a small coastal area, many living in tents or damaged buildings.
There was no immediate public response from President Donald Trump to Netanyahu’s latest remarks, while Washington continues to support the proposed Gaza framework aimed at Hamas’ disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a new security and governing arrangement.
The differing positions underscore ongoing disagreements over how the plan should be implemented, with further U.S.-Israeli and regional discussions expected.
Reuters
