Israel objects to US-backed Gaza plan, defiant on pullout
Israel voiced objections Monday over a plan promoted by President Donald Trump to end the Gaza war, with a cabinet member seeking to tear it up, defying pressure to end strikes and begin pulling forces from the Palestinian territory.
It was the latest sign of disconnect between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a tough re-election fight in October and has heavily promoted his relationship with the US leader, whom he met again in Washington last week.
Netanyahu's office demanded "verifiable" disarmament by Hamas, which on Friday announced it would give up weapons under the Trump plan to a nascent Palestinian governing committee.
"Israel has conveyed its comments and concerns on the proposed framework to our American counterparts. The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel's positions," Doron Spielman, spokesman for the prime minister's office, told AFP.
Incensing Netanyahu's hard-right allies -- upon whom his coalition depends -- the latest document released by the Board of Peace, the Trump-backed group in charge of implementing a Gaza plan, called for Israel to cease military operations "without delay" and lays out a "phased withdrawal" from the territory.
Saying that such language was "completely different" from what Israel understood, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and a colleague demanded that Netanyahu's security cabinet "immediately" hold a new vote on the Gaza plan.
Israel still controls some 60 percent of the territory despite a ceasefire declared in October. An Israeli political source told AFP that Israel "will not retreat" from its current position in the Gaza Strip.
Several Israeli media reports said that Netanyahu met Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the Board of Peace.
A Board of Peace official declined to comment on the meeting but said the plan would mean "improvement of life in Gaza and enhancement of security in Israel".
"We have provided a pragmatic path forward to transform Gaza by removing Hamas from power and seeing it hand over its weapons," the official said.
- Trump-Netanyahu gap -
Trump had called the disarmament announcement a "major milestone" in ending the devastating war, which began when Hamas carried out the deadliest attack ever against Israel on October 7, 2023.
He told reporters on Friday that Israel was "very happy" with the development, but Netanyahu has not spoken about it publicly.
Netanyahu's spokesman said that Hamas's actions since the ceasefire have shown that it was preparing for "further October 7-style massacres".
"The indispensable first step toward any lasting arrangement is the genuine, verifiable and irreversible demilitarisation of Hamas," Spielman said.
Trump and Netanyahu have also been at loggerheads on Iran, with Israel sceptical of his attempts at diplomacy to end the war the two countries launched in late February.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, offered a more upbeat take on Trump's Gaza efforts, saying that the latest development marked "a very positive step with the clear caveat and undertaking that Hamas must be disarmed".
- No let-up in Gaza -
The 10-month-old ceasefire has reduced the level of violence, but Israeli strikes since then have killed more than 1,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities.
The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.
No major strikes were reported Monday, although a security official in Gaza said that since early Sunday, Israeli attacks had killed 19 Palestinians, including women and children.
Palestinian authorities also said an Israeli strike Saturday destroyed a large amount of medical supplies.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure to conceal weapons and fighters, and said it had destroyed arms depots across Gaza.
The Israeli military identified two people it said it killed on Saturday, charging that they were planning attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.
Mohammad Dahlan, a senior Palestinian political figure who has played a key role in the Gaza plan, said after the Board of Peace roadmap that he had spoken to Trump's son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner who told him that Israel would end strikes in Gaza effective Sunday.
But he quickly revised his social media post, instead saying that Kushner was "working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks" in Gaza.
He later accused Netanyahu of working "to obstruct the most promising opportunity to begin ending this war".
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