Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed yesterday, Sunday, that he “rejects” the U.S. roadmap for the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has accepted, thereby distancing himself from his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, in an apparent attempt to appease his electoral base ahead of the crucial October elections looming on the horizon.
However, for Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative of the U.S. president’s “Peace Council” for Gaza, this is the “only path” that must be followed to prevent an attack similar to that of October 7, 2023, as the Bulgarian diplomat emphasized on Israel’s Channel 12.
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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had already expressed his reservations about the text, which in theory launches the second phase of the Trump plan, setting the “genuine” disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas as a necessary precondition for the withdrawal of his army from the enclave.
The text provoked furious reactions from the Israeli prime minister’s far-right allies, who rejected the 15-point document presented in late July by the “Peace Council.”
Hamas called on the Americans to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to “adhere to the road map and not obstruct the process for internal political or electoral reasons,” a member of the movement’s political bureau, Basem Naim, told Agence France-Presse.
The Israeli army “will not carry out any withdrawal as long as Hamas has not been truly disarmed,” Mr. Netanyahu stressed yesterday during a cabinet meeting, noting that Israel “does not accept the 15-point document.”
He described U.S. President Trump as “Israel’s greatest friend in the White House,” but made it clear that he would oppose him: “The Americans have ideas; some are acceptable to us, others are not, and we know how to defend our positions on these issues.”
The relationship between the two men appeared to have soured in April, when, amid negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, Donald Trump lashed out with particularly harsh words against his Israeli ally, accusing him of creating obstacles.
Unpopular
Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister who has served longer than any other politician in Israel’s modern history, is reportedly not guaranteed victory in the parliamentary elections on October 27, the first since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Polls also indicate that the U.S. plan is unpopular among the majority of the Israeli right-wing electorate. Its allies on the far right, who are even more hardline, are demanding that it be scrapped.
Hamas has accepted the text, which, at least in the public version released by Donald Trump’s “Peace Council,” links its disarmament to the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the sectors of the enclave they occupy.
Referring to Israeli concerns following his meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Nikolay Mladenov noted that the Israeli military would not withdraw until Hamas had been “completely” disarmed.
The High Representative for Gaza stated yesterday that talks are underway with Israel, which he hopes will have a “positive outcome for everyone.” “If genuine disarmament takes place, then Israel will withdraw,” he asserted.
The text stipulates that the disarmament and storage of Hamas’s arsenal will be guaranteed by the Gaza National Governance Committee (GNGC), a Palestinian technocratic body tasked with managing day-to-day affairs during the transitional phase; whose members remain stranded in Egypt, as Israel refuses to allow them to enter the enclave.
No to “virtual disarmament”
A fragile ceasefire has been in effect in the Gaza Strip since October 2025.
Egypt, a key mediator, urged all parties yesterday to “honor their commitments” and to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the progress that has been made, according to Egypt, during a conversation between Foreign Minister Badr Abdelati and Nikolay Mladenov.
Hamas has long maintained that its disarmament will be a gradual process and that there will be no unilateral, all-at-once handover of its arsenal, and that it will not hand over its weapons to Israel. On the other hand, the Israeli government demands the destruction of its arsenal.
Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to talks with the U.S., reiterated yesterday his demand that the Palestinian Islamist movement surrender “heavy weapons, the lighter weapons—all weapons,” stressing that he would not accept “token disarmament” on its part.
The Israeli military appears to have scaled back—though not halted — its operations in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s announcement of its disarmament last week.
Among the incidents reported yesterday: Israeli fire wounded a child, who was admitted to a hospital in Khan Yunis (south), according to civil defense authorities.
Since October 10, 2025, at least 1,258 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip during Israeli military operations, according to the Ministry of Health in the enclave, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
According to official data, the Israeli army has lost five soldiers in Gaza during the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.
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Source: APE-MPE
