Netanyahu vows to disarm Hamas as US said to wobble on Gaza demilitarization

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed Hamas will be disarmed, following reports that the United States is considering moving ahead with rebuilding parts of Gaza even as the terror group retains its weapons.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also reiterated Israel’s “opposition to a Palestinian state anywhere west of the Jordan River.”

The comments came ahead of an expected UN Security Council vote on Monday on a draft resolution to enshrine US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Gaza plan, which says “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood once there is peace in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority “faithfully” reforms itself.

Israel is lobbying the US and other countries to water down the language on Palestinian statehood, Hebrew media reported Sunday.

Trump’s 20-point plan, which Netanyahu endorsed in a September 29 press conference with the US president, also calls for the disarmament of Hamas, demilitarization of Gaza, reconstruction of the Strip and handing the enclave over to an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and an apolitical Palestinian administration overseen by a Trump-chaired Board of Peace.

However, an Israeli source cited by Channel 13 on Saturday said the White House was thinking of ditching the disarmament demand and moving ahead with reconstruction, due to the difficulty in getting other countries to send troops to demilitarize Gaza.

Addressing the “so-called non-demilitarization” of the Hamas-controlled parts of Gaza, Netanyahu said Sunday that “there will be no such thing.”

“In the 20-point plan, and in any other case, this area will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed — either the easy way or the hard way,” he said. “That is what I have said, and that is what President Trump has also said.”

“Our opposition to a Palestinian state anywhere west of the Jordan River exists, is firm, and has not changed whatsoever,” Netanyahu said. “I have been pushing back against these attempts for decades, and I do so against external pressure and internal pressure as well.”

“I don’t need reinforcement, tweets, or lectures from anyone,” added the prime minister, whose far-right coalition partners demanded Saturday night that he unequivocally reject Palestinian statehood following the release of a US-organized statement by several nations asserting that Trump’s plan “offers a pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Earlier Sunday, senior members of Netanyahu’s own Likud party made their own statements rejecting Palestinian statehood and vowing to keep up military operations in Gaza and elsewhere.

Writing on X, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel was fighting with three “terror states” bent on destroying it: “Hamas from Gaza, Hezbollah from Lebanon and the Houthis from Yemen,” all of which have been at conflict with Israel following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

“Israel will not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel, at a negligible distance away from all its population centers and with topographical control over them,” said Sa’ar.

Defense Minister Israel Katz also said in a statement that “Israel’s policy is clear: There will be no Palestinian state.”

He vowed to disarm Hamas on both sides of the Yellow Line in Gaza, where Israel withdrew on October 10 as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.

“Gaza will be demilitarized down to the last tunnel, and Hamas will be disarmed,” said Katz, adding that the terror group would be disarmed by the IDF on the ceasefire line’s Israeli-controlled side, and by either the International Stabilization Force or the IDF in “old Gaza.”

Katz also said the IDF would “stay at the peak of the Hermon and in the security zone,” apparently referring to parts of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights that Israel, citing fears of attacks from those areas, seized following the ouster of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad last December.

The Kan public broadcaster reported Sunday that Israel was engaged in a last-minute diplomatic blitz to alter the UN Security Council draft resolution that floated a possible “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.

According to the outlet, Foreign Ministry officials and Netanyahu confidants were discussing the matter with Arab leaders and Trump’s close circle.

Israel is reportedly convinced that the unpopular, West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of incitement to terrorism in schools and through payments to terror convicts, will be unable to reform itself to the extent laid out by Trump’s plan, which does not specify the “reform program” the PA is expected to undergo.

Despite the perceived slim chance that the PA will fulfill the conditions for Palestinian statehood, Israeli officials cited by Kan said the text the UN will vote on Monday would make for a dangerous resolution with unclear consequences.