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Sunday, August 2, 2026
Israel shared ‘serious security concerns’ with US over Hamas disarmament deal, PM’s office spokesman says
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Israel has shared “serious security concerns” with the White House regarding the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli official tells The Associated Press, in some of the first public comments since US President Donald Trump announced the agreement earlier this week.
Doron Spielman, spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office, tells the AP that Israel’s intelligence assessment is that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely demilitarizing. He says the IDF will not withdraw from Gaza — where it controls more than 60 percent of the territory — before Hamas disarms.
“Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry out another October 7-style attack,” he says, referring to the massacre in 2023 that triggered Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman says.
A Board of Peace plan that emerged late last week would see Hamas disarm and Israel pull out of Gaza, allowing a technocratic administration to take control of the Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment publicly on the plan, but a pair of statements attributed to a “senior Israeli official” had indicated that Jerusalem did not deem the proposal sufficient and was unprepared to retreat militarily.
The Times of Israel Community.