Seeking impunity to keep killing Palestinians, Israel objects to Trump Gaza roadmap

Israel has raised objections to the US-backed roadmap for the disarmament of Palestinian factions and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The occupation state is seeking the right to continue military operations in the enclave while the agreement is implemented.

The roadmap, announced by US President Donald Trump and his Board of Peace, calls for weapons held by Palestinians to be decommissioned gradually as Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza in corresponding phases.

Read: Israel rejects mediators’ Gaza proposal, insists on Hamas disarmament: Yedioth Ahronoth

There is disagreement over the sequencing, with Hamas insisting that disarmament should proceed alongside a phased Israeli withdrawal, while Israel says it will not withdraw until the Palestinian group has fully disarmed.

Two sources familiar with the discussions told AP that Israel had communicated its objections to former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who sits on the Board of Peace. Israel is seeking “freedom to conduct military operations in Gaza” under the proposed arrangement.

Israel has also objected to Qatar and Turkiye taking part in a committee responsible for verifying compliance with the roadmap. It wants confiscated Palestinian weapons destroyed rather than stored inside Gaza under the supervision of the new Palestinian administration and international monitors.

The plan states that Hamas and other Palestinian factions would surrender their heavy weapons to the Palestinian-led National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Weapons would then be decommissioned and stored, while tunnels, production facilities and arms depots would be dismantled.

The disarmament process is expected to be “gradual, sequential and time-bound” and linked to the phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from the areas they control. An International Stabilisation Force would deploy between Palestinian-administered territory and areas still occupied by Israel.

Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, claimed that Hamas continued to recruit fighters and rebuild its capabilities. He insisted that Israel would not withdraw before Hamas had surrendered its weapons fully.

“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman said.

Palestinian analyst Muhammad Shehada said Hamas’s acceptance of the roadmap did not represent a new position by the movement.

“What Hamas has agreed to is what they agreed to already in March this year. It’s been the same position ever since,” Shehada told Le Monde.

Shehada said Hamas’s agreement remained conditional on Israel fulfilling the commitments contained in the US-led ceasefire plan signed in October, including ending military operations, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and withdrawing its forces.

The earlier proposal presented to Hamas in March required Palestinian factions to surrender all their weapons and dismantle their military infrastructure before any Israeli withdrawal. The latest roadmap instead links the two processes, with implementation by each party subject to international verification.

Shehada also said Hamas wanted to transfer responsibility for governing Gaza to the new Palestinian technocratic committee.

“Hamas is eager to get rid of the governing burden of Gaza,” he explained, adding that the movement remained responsible for paying tens of thousands of public employees.

Under the roadmap, Israel would have to suspend its attacks, permit the entry of increased humanitarian assistance and withdraw to the ceasefire line agreed in October before the broader disarmament process could advance.

Its thought that Netanyahu’s government is likely to view taking those steps before Israel’s October election as “political suicide”.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has rejected the roadmap and called for Israel to continue assassinating Hamas officials. Other members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have also opposed an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

US officials said Israel had been consulted during the negotiations and maintained that the roadmap did not require it to undertake measures beyond those already included in the October ceasefire agreement.

Read: Israel expands ‘yellow zone’, forcing thousands more Gazans to flee again – Israeli media

Israel continues to control more than 60 per cent of Gaza. Much of the territory under Israeli control has been destroyed and depopulated, while around two million Palestinians have been pushed into the remaining areas of what was already one of the most densely populated regions in the world.

Israeli attacks have also continued during the ceasefire. At least 18 Palestinians, including children, were killed in recent strikes, according to hospitals in Gaza. One strike on an apartment in southern Gaza killed three members of one family, including a four-year-old child.

Israel has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025, bringing the overall death toll to more than 74,000.