Netanyahu Rejects Trump 15-Point Gaza Plan
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- Netanyahu rejected Trump's 15-point plan at a Sunday cabinet meeting, declaring the Israeli military "will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed" and dismissing any "fictitious disarmament."
- Hamas told the BBC it "reaffirms its commitment" to the agreement and is ready to "engage seriously and responsibly in implementing" the 15-point plan, conditioning handover of heavy weapons on Israel ending "all forms of aggression" and withdrawing its forces.
- Board of Peace senior official Nickolay Mladenov defended the deal as "the only way forward" to prevent a repeat of the October 7, 2023 attack, describing the process as "verifiable" and "reversible" and saying Israel would not have to withdraw until disarmament was verified.
- Itamar Ben Gvir and other far-right coalition members have called for a new cabinet vote to scrap the Gaza plan ahead of upcoming Israeli elections, raising the political cost for Netanyahu of any concessions to Washington.
- The plan, announced in September last year, bundles Hamas disarmament, phased Israeli troop withdrawal, Gaza reconstruction, and Board of Peace oversight into a single framework that Israel has now publicly refused.
- Israel has continued strikes on Gaza since the initial October ceasefire; UN figures show about 1.9 million people, or 90% of the population, have been displaced, and the territory's health ministry reports more than 73,000 killed.
Why it matters: Israel is the sole holdout in a deal its closest ally brokered — Hamas publicly said yes and the Board of Peace called the plan "the only way forward" — meaning Netanyahu's rejection is not about the plan's terms but about his coalition math. With elections months away and Ben Gvir's far-right bloc demanding an end to the deal, Netanyahu's red line of disarmament-first effectively traps the process, since Hamas ties its weapons handover to the very withdrawal Israel refuses.
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