JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (Aug 9) rejected a United States-led Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas, taking fresh distance from US President Donald Trump as he faces razor-tight elections.
After more than a week of gradually escalating criticism of the plan, Netanyahu explicitly opposed it in the face of pushback from his right-wing base.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said, referring to a plan signed off on by Hamas in late July.
The Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens”, Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu described Trump, with whom he has also had a growing break on Iran, as “our greatest friend in the White House” – but quickly made clear he was willing to challenge him.
He said Israel was raising its objections to the Gaza plan with the US.
“They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters,” he said.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, is running even or trailing in some polls ahead of Oct 27 elections, the country’s first since the devastating Oct 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
Polls show that the Gaza plan is widely unpopular with Netanyahu’s right-wing base and far-right members of his Cabinet having urged him to call a new vote to kill the Gaza plan.
Hamas, days after selecting a new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, announced it supported the Gaza plan. It called on the US to pressure Netanyahu.
“We expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons,” Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.