Israel will not withdraw from its current positions in Gaza until Hamas is completely disarmed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
"I am standing firm on our security interests - we will not withdraw from our current lines until Hamas is completely disarmed," Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page. He instructed Israel Defense Forces soldiers "to do everything necessary to defend themselves, to defend our territory, to defend our citizens."
Netanyahu said the Trump administration believes it can persuade Hamas to demilitarize Gaza. "We are examining that," He stated, while noting that the U.S. Presented Israel with a draft agreement that Jerusalem rejected. "This is not our draft," He said, adding that Israel had submitted its own comments to the White House.
In a podcast interview Monday with Israeli historian Gadi Taub, Netanyahu expressed doubt about Hamas's willingness to disarm as required by the Board of Peace's 15-point roadmap for Gaza. "I don't think Hamas is going to turn into a kitten - this predator," He said.
When asked whether Israel had missed the chance to eradicate Hamas, Netanyahu replied, "It's not missed - it's not completed. There's still work to do... Hamas must be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized, and only then [Gaza] can start reconstruction, including rehabilitating its fanaticism."
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative overseeing the ceasefire with Hamas, said after meetings with Netanyahu in Jerusalem that implementation of Trump's Gaza plan had entered the "hard phase." "This is the start of the hard phase and I have never pretended otherwise. Not much of what we do now is dramatic. It is slow, grinding and technical work," Mladenov wrote on X.
The Board of Peace separately stated that Israeli withdrawal would occur only after weapons decommissioning is complete.
