In a video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said the team of US President Donald Trump "believes that they can bring about the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza. We are checking this. They sent us a draft -- we did not agree to it, it is not our draft. We sent our comments."
Netanyahu also asserted that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until "Hamas has completely disarmed."
It was the first public comment by Netanyahu on the issue after Trump made the new Gaza roadmap announcement on Thursday.
On Thursday, Trump announced a roadmap for the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which included a phased disarmament of Hamas and other armed resistance groups in Gaza accompanied by the gradual withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the strip.
Trump called the new roadmap a "major milestone," declaring that Israel was "very happy."
Immediately after Trump announced the new Gaza roadmap, key members of Netanyahu's cabinet, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, rejected any talk of withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Before the announcement, Israel prepared the ground for delaying any implementation of Phase II by declaring that the ISF must only include nations deemed "friendly" to Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Prime Minister met with the US-backed Board of Peace on Monday and received guarantees that the Israeli army would only be required to leave its current positions in Gaza after Hamas disarms.
During the meeting, Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Mladenov and his team, including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons held by Hamas.
In a statement Monday, Hamas said the group and various other Palestinian factions “remain committed to what was agreed regarding the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, including all parties’ obligations.”
Hamas added it was awaiting “a clear and official response” from Mladenov and the mediators regarding what was agreed upon.
Meanwhile, in Washington, members of the Board of Peace met with US congressional staff on Monday to detail their ongoing efforts and to work with Congress “to advance peace, security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza,” according to a brief statement released by the board.
Shortly after the announcement, Hamas stated its agreement to the next stage of the deal, including handing over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee, but stressed that handing over weapons was contingent on the end of Israeli attacks in Gaza, deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), and the withdrawal of the occupation army from the strip.
However, on Sunday, Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman claimed, once again without any evidence, that Hamas is "recruiting fighters" and "preparing for another 'October 7-style" operation. The spokesman told The Associated Press that the Israeli army would not withdraw from Gaza, where it currently controls more than 60 percent of the territory, before Hamas "fully disarms."
In tandem, Israel ramped up its strikes in Gaza, killing 17 people overnight Saturday and into Sunday, according to local health officials. Israeli attacks have killed nearly 1,300 and wounded hundreds since the ceasefire deal to end the genocidal war in Gaza was reached in October 2025.
Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — mediators in the Gaza truce negotiations — denounced the latest Israeli strikes in a statement Monday, saying that the particular targeting of healthcare facilities, medical infrastructure and resulting civilian casualties constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law. The mediators also called on the international community to continue to pressure Israel to fulfill its end of the deal.
In total, Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed nearly 74,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 200,000, mostly women and children. It has also displaced most of the territory's 2 million residents, many of whom are living in overcrowded tent camps where poor conditions have contributed to rodent infestations and outbreaks of infectious diseases, including chickenpox.
In an interview with Ahram Online, Senior expert and former negotiator Mohamed Ibrahim Eldawiry cautioned, “The most crucial issue now is whether Israel will commit to implement this deal, especially as we move closer towards the Israeli [legislative] elections with all the [expected] manifestations of radical and extremist policies.”
"Clearly, Israel will manoeuvre and will engage in a process of interpreting the text," he said. "This is why there is a crucial role for the US in making sure that Israel honours its commitments, just as the Palestinian side would honour its part of the deal," he added.
If Israel failed to honour its side of the deal, Eldawiry warned, the current catastrophic situation in Gaza would remain unchanged, to the detriment of the Palestinians living in horrific conditions there and of regional stability.
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