Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday emphasized his commitment to disarming the entire Gaza Strip as envisioned in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the coastal enclave.
“I want to address two specific issues,” Netanyahu said as he opened the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday. “The first issue is the supposed ‘non-demilitarization’ of the part of Gaza still in Hamas’s hands. There will be no such thing. Under the 20-point plan, and in everything else, that area will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed. Either this will happen the easy way or it will happen the hard way. I said this, and President Trump also said this,” the premier told journalists.
Netanyahu also reiterated his opposition to establishing a “Palestinian state on any territory west of the Jordan River,” rejecting Friday’s U.S.-backed statement calling for a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood. “I have been pushing back against these attempts for decades, doing so against external pressure as well as internal pressure. So I don’t need encouragement, tweets or lectures from anyone,” Netanyahu added.
Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas came into effect on Oct. 10, with the terror group agreeing to release all hostages, alive and dead, in the first phase, before moving on to the second stage, which requires its disarmament.
The truce agreement was mediated by the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, although other countries have since joined the post-ceasefire deliberations in the effort to uphold the agreement.
The IDF currently holds about half of Gaza. It is deployed to the east and along the so-called Yellow Line that runs through the north, center and south of the Strip, with Hamas controlling the Strip’s western areas.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Nov. 12 that “eventually, there won’t be a Yellow Line,” as no territory will remain in Hamas’s hands.
“Right now, that Yellow Line is what differentiates between the parts of Gaza under Hamas control and the ones that are not in Hamas control,” he stated. “Eventually, none of it should be under Hamas control. There should be a civilian Palestinian organization that runs Gaza. And that’s the goal, to stand that organization up, give it capacity, allow it to grow in both capability and credibility, and ultimately it will govern Gaza.”
However, Rubio stressed, the International Stabilization Force slated to provide security in Gaza until a Palestinian organization can step up to govern the Strip would not have to initiate operations against Hamas because the Iranian-backed terrorist group has agreed to disarm.
