Israel said today it has raised alarms with the United States over a Gaza war-ending framework championed by President Donald Trump, even as Israeli strikes continued across the Palestinian enclave.
The remarks underscore a fresh strain between Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is heading into a hard-fought October re-election contest after repeatedly spotlighting his ties to the US president, whom he met again last week.
Mr Netanyahu’s office insisted the proposal must deliver more specific and enforceable Hamas disarmament. Hamas said on Friday it would relinquish its weapons under the Trump plan to a fledgling Palestinian governing committee.
“Israel has conveyed its comments and concerns on the proposed framework to our American counterparts. The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions,” Doron Spielman, spokesman for the prime minister’s office, said.
He added that Israeli intelligence concluded Hamas has been rebuilding its capabilities — rearming and recruiting — since a ceasefire announced by Trump in October.
While the truce has brought down overall violence, Israel still controls more than 60% of the Gaza Strip and, since the ceasefire, more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza authorities.
The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have died in Gaza over the same period, along with one civilian contractor.
Mr Trump described Hamas’s stated disarmament step as a “major milestone” toward winding down the war that erupted after Hamas launched the deadliest attack ever against Israel on 7 October, 2023.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Trump said Israel was “very happy” with the development, though Mr Netanyahu has not addressed it publicly.
Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman said Hamas’s conduct since the ceasefire indicated it was positioning itself for “further October 7-style massacres” and pointed to language in the plan issued by Mr Trump’s “Board of Peace” calling for Gaza to become “a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”.
“That vision stands in direct contrast to the current reality and to Hamas’s stated intentions. The indispensable first step toward any lasting arrangement is the genuine, verifiable and irreversible demilitarisation of Hamas,” he said.
“Anything short of full demilitarisation will leave Hamas with the capability to threaten Israel again.”
A roadmap released by the Board of Peace and dated Thursday urged Israel to fulfil, “fully” and “without delay”, commitments to cease military operations in Gaza.
Even as it called for verification of commitments, the roadmap also laid out a “phased withdrawal” by Israel from Gaza — a step Israeli leaders have said cannot proceed until Hamas is disarmed.
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No let-up in Gaza
Despite the diplomatic push, a Gaza security official said Israeli strikes since early yesterday have killed 19 Palestinians, including women and children.
Palestinian authorities also reported that an Israeli strike on Saturday destroyed a large quantity of medical supplies.
Israel has long argued that Hamas embeds weapons and fighters in civilian infrastructure and says it has demolished arms depots across Gaza.
The Israeli military said it also killed two people on Saturday, alleging they were preparing attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.
Mohammad Dahlan, a senior Palestinian political figure involved in shaping the Gaza plan, said after the Board of Peace roadmap that he had spoken with Mr Trump’s son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner, who told him Israel would stop strikes in Gaza starting Sunday.
Dahlan later amended his social media post, writing instead that Kushner was “working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks” in Gaza.
He subsequently accused Mr Netanyahu of acting “to obstruct the most promising opportunity to begin ending this war”.
Disagreements between Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu are not limited to Gaza. Israel has also voiced scepticism about Mr Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end the war on Iran, which the two countries launched in late February.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, struck a more hopeful note about Mr Trump’s Gaza initiative, saying it “bring a certain vision of hope”.
The latest development mark “a very positive step with the clear caveat and undertaking that Hamas must be disarmed”, he said while receiving foreign ambassadors.
