No Palestinian state as long as I'm PM: Netanyahu rejects Trump's Gaza peace plan

Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks came more than a week after Trump hailed the plan as a "major milestone" and said it would pave the way for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups.

In Short

• Netanyahu says Israeli forces would not leave Gaza before Hamas disarms
• Trump calls the 15-point roadmap a major breakthrough for peace
• Hamas demands end to Israeli attacks before surrendering its weapons

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ruled out a Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank and rejected the 15-point Gaza peace plan, dealing a major blow to US President Donald Trump’s claim of a breakthrough towards ending the war.

Hamas, meanwhile, said it remained committed to the roadmap but insisted that Israel must first fulfil its obligations.

“As long as I am Prime Minister, there will be no Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank,” Netanyahu said.

Rejecting the 15-point plan announced by the US President, Netanyahu also said Israel would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas was fully disarmed.

The remarks came more than a week after Trump hailed the roadmap as a “major milestone” and a “great breakthrough."

With Israel rejecting key parts of the plan and Hamas attaching conditions to its implementation, the two sides remain far apart on how the US-backed roadmap should move forward.

ISRAEL RULES OUT WITHDRAWAL BEFORE HAMAS DISARMS

An Israeli official said last week that there would be “no withdrawal whatsoever” of the Israeli military from its current positions unless Hamas underwent what Israel considered genuine disarmament.

Netanyahu has now reinforced that position, saying Israeli forces would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas was completely disarmed.

The Israeli Prime Minister's outright rejection also sits uneasily with what Trump said after hosting Netanyahu in Washington last week, days before Sunday's remarks.

"Israel helped us, and they've been very good," Trump had said then, calling Israel 'very happy' with the agreement.

Trump, however, acknowledged that implementing the plan could prove difficult. “Will it go through its ups and downs? It’s a very complex situation over there,” he said.

An Israeli political source said Gaza was not discussed during Netanyahu's meeting with Trump in Washington, raising questions over how closely the two leaders are actually aligned on implementing the plan.

HAMAS: COMMITTED TO ROADMAP, BUT SETS CONDITIONS

Hamas, meanwhile, said it remained committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators and representatives of Trump’s Peace Council in Cairo, while insisting that Israel must first fulfil its obligations.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that the group expected mediators and the United States to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap.

“We remain committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators and representatives of the Peace Council in Cairo,” Naim said.

Hamas has maintained that Israel must first halt its attacks and fulfil commitments under the earlier ceasefire agreement before the group moves towards giving up its weapons.

“The first step towards an agreement” would have to be an Israeli commitment to stop the killing and end its attacks, the group said.

Ghazi Hamad, another senior Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the group was prepared to accept what he described as a “difficult and painful” agreement, but stopped short of accepting immediate disarmament.

Hamad said Israel would first have to implement the initial phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, including ending attacks, withdrawing its forces to earlier positions and allowing greater flows of goods and humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Only after those steps, Hamas said, would it agree to place its weapons under the control of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the Palestinian technocratic body proposed to govern the enclave during the transition.

WHAT TRUMP’S 15-POINT PLAN SAYS

Trump’s 15-point roadmap lays out a phased plan to end the Gaza war, disarm armed groups, withdraw Israeli forces and shift governance of the enclave to a Palestinian technocratic body.

Under the plan, Israel and Hamas would first have to complete their existing ceasefire commitments before moving to the next phase.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions would then hand over Gaza’s civil administration and internal security to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The plan also calls for heavy weapons, arms depots, military sites and tunnels to be identified and placed under the committee’s control.

An international stabilisation force would be deployed to separate Israeli troops from Palestinian-administered areas and monitor implementation of the agreement.

Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza in stages under an agreed timeline, while reconstruction and the restoration of public services would begin under international supervision.

The roadmap also speaks of a longer-term political process aimed at Palestinian self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The central hurdle, however, remains unchanged: Israel says Hamas must disarm before troops withdraw, while Hamas insists Israel must first halt its attacks and begin withdrawing its forces.

8 NATIONS WARN ISRAEL AGAINST DERAILING PEACE PLAN

The widening gap between Israel and Trump’s roadmap has also drawn a rare, coordinated response from several Muslim-majority countries.

The United Arab Emirates joined Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt on Thursday in condemning Israel’s continuing military operations in Gaza and warning that they could derail efforts to implement the next phase of the US-backed peace plan.

In a joint statement, the eight countries said Israel’s actions were undermining international efforts to move the agreement forward after Palestinian factions accepted the framework announced by Trump.

The statement marked a notable show of unity among countries that have often differed sharply in their approach towards Israel, ranging from the UAE, a close US partner with diplomatic ties to Israel, to Turkiye, one of its strongest regional critics.

The foreign ministers warned that continued Israeli military action could “derail the political process”, trigger renewed escalation and deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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