Netanyahu to convene security cabinet tomorrow as tensions simmer with Iran; report: return to Gaza fighting to also be discussed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet tomorrow, the offices of one of the members tells The Times of Israel.

He last met with the small circle of senior ministers on Wednesday, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.

The meeting comes after US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was dissatisfied with a new ceasefire offer from Tehran and confirmed he had been briefed on ways to “blast the hell out of them” if no deal were reached. A senior Iranian official has since warned that a return to war with the US is “likely.”

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the meeting will also discuss a potential return to fighting in the Gaza Strip amid anger over the lack of progress in negotiations to disarm Hamas and move forward with the US-led Board of Peace’s ceasefire plan.

“Hamas is not complying with the disarmament agreement,” an Israeli source tells the outlet. “We are holding discussions with the mediators.”

Hamas presented Saturday morning in Cairo its response to Board of Peace High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov’s 15-point roadmap for the implementation of phase two of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.

According to the outlet, there was surprise by mediators and some non-Hamas Palestinian factions at Hamas’s amendments. Hamas is demanding a full ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

It did not accept Mladenov’s proposal for a staged disarming of Hamas, instead saying that “the issue of weapons would be handled in connection with the political rights of the Palestinian people, within a national framework, and in the context of establishing the necessary security arrangements as a basis for guaranteeing security for both sides,” according to the outlet.

It also called for “establishing a sovereign Palestinian state and securing the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

Mladenov left Cairo after Hamas submitted its response.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.