Israel Flags Security Concerns on Hamas Disarmament Deal
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- Israel shared 'serious security concerns' with the White House about a proposed U.S.-brokered Hamas disarmament deal, with Israeli intelligence assessing that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely demilitarizing.
- Hamas announced it will only begin disarming after Israeli troops fully withdraw from Gaza — a sequence Israel has categorically refused, with PMO spokesperson Doron Spielman declaring 'disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less.'
- The agreement requires all weapons held by Hamas-run police to transfer to the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, with decommissioning of heavy weapons and tunnel dismantling linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal.
- Israel controls more than 60% of Gaza and conveyed to former British PM Tony Blair — part of Trump's Board of Peace — that it wants freedom to conduct military operations in Gaza.
- Netanyahu faces an October re-election battle, with far-right coalition partners pressing him to keep forces in Gaza, making significant Israeli concessions politically unlikely before voters go to the polls.
- Since the October ceasefire, Israeli strikes have continued in Gaza, with overnight strikes Saturday into Sunday killing at least 17 people including a four-year-old child, according to local hospitals.
Why it matters: The two sides are locked in mutually exclusive preconditions — Hamas conditions disarmament on Israeli withdrawal, Israel conditions withdrawal on disarmament — putting Trump's announced 'breakthrough' at risk before it is implemented. With Netanyahu's October elections approaching and ongoing Israeli strikes killing civilians after the ceasefire, the gap between the deal's political announcement and conditions on the ground is widening fast.
