Israel has rejected the latest US proposal to move to the next stage of the Gaza peace process, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Hamas must be fully disarmed before Israeli forces withdraw.“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, as quoted by CNN.He said the Israeli military would “not withdraw at all until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and citizens.”“And when I say disarm Hamas, that means heavy weapons, less-heavy weapons, all weapons. And we are talking about real disarmament, not a fictitious disarmament,” Netanyahu added.Netanyahu said Israel was discussing the proposal with Washington, but that some elements were unacceptable to his government.“We are now discussing this with the Americans. They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand up to those things,” he said.He also ruled out the creation of a Palestinian state in either Gaza or the West Bank.“As long as I am prime minister, no Palestinian state will be established — not in Gaza and not in the West Bank,” Netanyahu said.Hamas reacted to Netanyahu rejecting the plan, saying it remained committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators and representatives of the Peace Council in Cairo 10 days ago. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters, “We remain committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators and representatives of the Peace Council in Cairo 10 days ago.”He added that Hamas expected mediators and the US to “press Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap.”US President Donald Trump had announced at the end of July what he described as a historic agreement aimed at securing the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. The announcement came months after Trump first unveiled a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.Hamas, however, has said it would agree to the next stage only if Israel stops its strikes in Gaza and withdraws its troops to the “yellow line” set out under the October ceasefire agreement.
