Netanyahu Rejects Trump's 15-Point Gaza Plan, Demands Full Hamas Disarmament First

Today’s Focus

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday publicly rejected a 15-point Gaza peace framework backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, telling his cabinet that no Israeli troop withdrawal will occur until Hamas is “genuinely” disarmed of all weapons, heavy and light, according to The Washington Post and Reuters.

The plan, announced last September and advanced by Trump’s Board of Peace, calls for the phased disarmament of Hamas in exchange for a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and an eventual transfer of civil authority to an independent Palestinian National Committee, The Guardian reported.

Trump has said the deal would be implemented in stages. Netanyahu insisted Sunday that disarmament must come first, calling it a precondition rather than a parallel track.

“Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting, per The Guardian. He added that Israeli forces “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”

The rejection marks a rare open break between Netanyahu and Trump, whose administration brokered an initial Gaza ceasefire in October 2025. Israeli strikes on the enclave have continued despite that truce, the BBC reported.

A Hamas official told the BBC on Sunday the group “reaffirms its commitment” to the framework and is prepared to “engage seriously and responsibly” in implementing it, provided mediators hold all parties to the terms. Hamas has previously said surrendering heavy weapons is contingent on Israel ending military operations and pulling back.

A senior Board of Peace official told the BBC the U.S.-backed plan remains “the only way forward.” CNN reported that Netanyahu, facing a difficult reelection fight, has calculated that angering Trump is his least-bad political option at home, where his coalition partners oppose any withdrawal without full Hamas disarmament.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Netanyahu and his cabinet allies contend that a staged withdrawal without verified disarmament would leave Hamas intact and free to rearm, repeating what they describe as the mistakes of past ceasefires. Netanyahu told ministers Sunday that Israel faces “a wave of rumours about Israeli weakness” and rebuked U.S. pressure to wind down conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israeli buy-in, The Guardian reported.

Israeli officials quoted by The New York Times argue that “genuine” disarmament, covering heavy and light weaponry, is the only outcome that guarantees security for communities near the Gaza border after the October 2023 attacks.

Fox News reported that Netanyahu framed the position as a bright line: no pullout until Hamas hands over “all weaponry,” not a “fictitious” surrender. Coalition partners on the Israeli right have warned they will bolt the government if Netanyahu accepts a phased plan, giving him a domestic political incentive to hold firm.

Supporters also note that Hamas has not yet handed over any heavy weapons under the October truce, which they say validates skepticism about the group’s intentions.

Critics argue

The Trump administration and Arab mediators argue that insisting on complete disarmament before any withdrawal effectively kills the framework Trump himself unveiled last year. A senior Board of Peace official told the BBC that the 15-point plan remains “the only way forward” and that sequencing must be phased to give Hamas an incentive to comply.

Hamas, in its BBC statement Sunday, said it is ready to implement the deal and accused Israel of using preconditions to justify continued strikes on Gaza during the ceasefire.

CNN’s analysis argued that Netanyahu is prioritizing his coalition’s survival over the broader U.S.-led regional settlement, including normalization tracks tied to Gulf states. Critics inside Israel, including opposition leader Yair Lapid quoted in Israeli press coverage aggregated by Reuters, have said the rejection isolates Israel diplomatically and squanders leverage Trump built with Arab partners.

Palestinian officials and humanitarian groups cited by The Guardian said continued Israeli operations under the current ceasefire have already undercut trust, and that a hard precondition on disarmament makes reconstruction and civilian relief impossible to schedule.

What the experts say

Analysts at the International Crisis Group have argued in recent Middle East briefings that “disarmament-first” demands historically fail in post-conflict settlements because armed groups view weapons as their only leverage; the Group has pointed to Northern Ireland and Colombia as cases where phased decommissioning, tied to political guarantees, produced more durable outcomes than immediate surrender demands.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and Chatham House have noted in published assessments that Hamas retains significant light-weapons stockpiles and tunnel infrastructure, making verification of “complete” disarmament technically difficult without an intrusive international monitoring force that no party has yet agreed to fund or staff.

Brookings Middle East scholar Natan Sachs has written that Netanyahu’s domestic coalition math, not battlefield conditions, is the binding constraint on Israeli flexibility, a view echoed by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

United Nations OCHA data cited by Reuters shows more than 60,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza since October 2023, with reconstruction costs the World Bank has estimated at over $50 billion.

By the Numbers

15: number of points in the Trump-backed Gaza peace plan Netanyahu rejected Sunday, per The Guardian.

October 2025: month the initial Gaza ceasefire took effect, according to the BBC.

September 2025: month Trump first announced the framework and the Board of Peace, per the BBC.

$50 billion+: World Bank estimate of Gaza reconstruction costs, cited by Reuters.

60,000+: Palestinians reported killed in Gaza since October 2023, per U.N. OCHA figures reported by Reuters.

3: active conflict theaters (Gaza, Lebanon, Iran) where Netanyahu said Sunday he is resisting U.S. pressure to wind down operations, according to The Guardian.

0: heavy weapons Hamas has handed over under the October truce, according to Fox News coverage of Israeli government briefings.