Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Donald Trump‘s 15-point Gaza peace plan on Sunday in Israel, saying the government would not permit further troop withdrawals from Gaza until Hamas was fully disarmed. Ultimo aggiornamento: 10 agosto 2026.
The decision matters because the plan, presented by Trump’s Board of Peace on July 31, 2026, had been described by its backers as a roadmap to end fighting and enable a phased Israeli pullback to the Yellow Line Netanyahu’s rejection leaves the compromise reached in the earlier ceasefire at risk and intensifies diplomatic friction ahead of Israel’s October 27 election.
Why the rejection changed the immediate dynamics
Netanyahu framed his refusal around a demand for what he called genuine and irreversible disarmament of Hamas, stating, “We are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament,” and repeating that “Israel rejects the 15-point document.” The dispute centres on sequencing: the 15-point plan envisioned a phased process in which Hamas would surrender weapons to an international policing presence while Israeli forces withdrew; Netanyahu insisted that no withdrawal beyond the Yellow Line would occur without full decommissioning of arms, a position the Board led by Nickolay Mladenov echoed on August 3.
Diplomatic positions and reactions
The Board of Peace chaired by Nickolay Mladenov had publicly backed the structure of the July plan and repeated that Israeli forces should not pull back beyond the Yellow Line until weapons were decommissioned. Hamas officials, including senior figure Basem Naim responded by urging mediators to press Israel; Naim wrote on X that the group is still “committed to the roadmap reached” and called on negotiators and the American guarantor to compel Israel to adhere to what was agreed in the earlier ceasefire. The public split between a US-brokered outline and Israeli acceptance represents an uncommon diplomatic rift between Israel and the United States.
Humanitarian toll and operational facts
The humanitarian figures cited by Palestinian health authorities remain central to the diplomatic urgency: more than 73,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza since the war began, while, since the initial ceasefire, at least 1,250 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, most described as civilians. The earlier partial withdrawal and hostage-release elements of the ceasefire left unresolved the status of militant capabilities inside Gaza; those unresolved issues were the focus of the 15-point roadmap published in July and they are now the main obstacle to further Israeli movement.
Political timing and electoral implications
Netanyahu’s move took place against a tense domestic calendar: his coalition faced polls indicating it could lose its majority ahead of the October 27 election, and his hard-right bloc has been under pressure over an inconclusive regional security environment that includes operations in Lebanon and wider tensions with Iran. The timing of the rejection has amplified criticism from political opponents and complicated Israel’s relations with allies, particularly after a recent US meeting in late July between Netanyahu and Trump that was described as productive even as differences remained.
The rejection also restated a central Israeli demand that no further sovereign concessions or withdrawal steps occur until Hamas is verifiably disarmed; the Israeli cabinet meeting that formalised the stance reiterated that position. International mediators continue shuttle diplomacy, but the impasse over sequencing and verification of the disarmament provisions has left the status of the ceasefire roadmap uncertain and humanitarian access fragile.
The situation remains fluid as negotiators weigh verification mechanisms for decommissioning and as political calendars in Israel and external guarantors create competing pressures. Reporting across the diplomatic track continues, with both the Israeli and Hamas positions unchanged at the moment and mediators still engaged in efforts to bridge the gap between an acceptance of the 15-point roadmap by Hamas and the categorical rejection by Netanyahu.
