Netanyahu rejects US-backed proposal for Hamas disarmament

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown cold water on the Trump administration’s latest attempt to broker a lasting resolution in Gaza, publicly rejecting a US-backed disarmament framework for Hamas and ruling out phased military withdrawals from the territory. The rejection, which Netanyahu articulated in remarks on August 5 and again on August 9, 2026, came roughly one week after Hamas itself had accepted the same framework. That sequence of events, Hamas saying yes followed by Israel saying no, effectively flipped the usual script of Middle East diplomacy and left Washington in an awkward position. What Netanyahu actually said Netanyahu stated plainly that Israel did not consent to the draft proposal developed by the Trump administration’s Board of Peace. His core demand: Israeli forces will not withdraw from their current positions in Gaza until Hamas is either completely or genuinely disarmed. That’s a significantly higher bar than the phased approach envisioned by American negotiators. The US-backed plan tied gradual Israeli pullouts to incremental disarmament milestones, a step-by-step process designed to build mutual confidence. Israel currently controls over 6...