Israel Raises Security Objections as Hamas Disarmament Plan Faces Its First Test

Today’s Focus

Israel has told the White House it holds serious security concerns about the plan to disarm Hamas that President Donald Trump announced last week, according to an Israeli official cited by The Associated Press and reported by PBS NewsHour.

Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered some of the first public reaction from Israel since Trump unveiled the agreement. He said Israel’s intelligence services believe Hamas intends to reconstitute its forces rather than truly demilitarize.

Spielman told the AP that Israeli troops would stay in Gaza until Hamas hands over its arms. The military currently holds more than 60% of the territory, according to the Israeli account.

“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman said, per PBS NewsHour. He warned that a pullback before disarmament would let the group rebuild and attempt another attack on the scale of Oct. 7, 2023, the assault that set off the war.

The objections landed as violence continued. NPR and the BBC reported that Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday evening killed at least 17 people in Gaza, including children.

Days earlier, Hamas said it would start disarming under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed nine months ago, according to PBS NewsHour. The move was described as a possible path toward ending a conflict that has run nearly three years, though officials cautioned that conditions and lengthy timelines remain unresolved.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Backers of the framework see it as the most concrete opening to close out the war. Trump has cast the arrangement as a breakthrough, coming after Hamas publicly agreed to begin surrendering weapons under the ceasefire his team helped negotiate, according to PBS NewsHour.

Supporters contend that a disarmed Hamas is the only durable route to security for Israeli communities near Gaza, and that securing that commitment on paper is a meaningful step. They point to the nine-month-old truce as evidence the diplomatic track can hold.

Advocates for the deal argue that a phased Israeli withdrawal tied to verified disarmament gives both sides an incentive to keep moving. NPR reported that the plan pairs Hamas’s demilitarization with a drawdown of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Proponents also stress the humanitarian stakes. With the death toll from nearly three years of fighting still climbing, they argue that any credible mechanism to halt the strikes and rebuild Gaza deserves a genuine test before it is dismissed.

Critics argue

Israeli officials themselves are among the loudest skeptics. Spielman said Israel’s assessment is that Hamas remains focused on rebuilding its military, according to PBS NewsHour, and he insisted the group must physically surrender its arsenal before any troop pullback.

Netanyahu’s office framed a premature redeployment as an invitation to disaster. If Israel withdraws first, Spielman argued, Hamas would rapidly reestablish itself across Gaza and threaten another Oct. 7-style attack.

Critics on the other side point to the ongoing strikes as proof the ceasefire is fragile. The BBC reported that Israeli strikes continued even after Hamas agreed to the disarmament terms, and Reuters cited an Israeli minister saying there was no deal to halt the attacks.

For Palestinians and humanitarian groups, the weekend’s casualties, including children reported by NPR, undercut the notion that a breakthrough is at hand. They argue that continued bombardment during negotiations erodes any trust needed to implement disarmament.

What the experts say

Independent analysts have long treated militia disarmament as one of the hardest phases of any peace process. Research on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) compiled by the United Nations and studied by scholars at institutions such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows such programs frequently stall when armed groups doubt their security after giving up weapons.

The RAND Corporation, in past studies of insurgencies, has found that groups rarely disarm fully without credible third-party guarantees and verification. That gap between a stated commitment and physical handover is precisely the fault line Israeli officials described.

Historical comparisons underline the difficulty. The decommissioning of the Irish Republican Army stretched across years and required an independent monitoring body before weapons were verifiably put beyond use, according to accounts of the Northern Ireland peace process.

Analysts tracking Gaza note that verification in an active conflict zone, with Israel controlling most of the territory, adds a layer of complexity rarely present in prior cases. Continued strikes during talks, they say, historically make combatants less willing to lay down arms.

By the Numbers

17: minimum number of people, including children, killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza overnight and into Sunday evening, according to NPR.

60%: share of Gaza the Israeli military controls, per the Israeli official quoted by PBS NewsHour.

9 months: time since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed, according to PBS NewsHour.

Nearly 3 years: length of the war in Gaza triggered by the October 2023 Hamas attack, per PBS NewsHour.

13-18: range of reported deaths from the weekend Israeli strikes across outlets, with the BBC citing at least 13 and Reuters citing 18.

Oct. 7, 2023: date of the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war, referenced by Netanyahu’s office via PBS NewsHour.

Last week: when Trump announced the proposed Hamas disarmament deal, according to NPR.