Netanyahu Rejects Trump's 15-Point Gaza Peace Plan Over Hamas Disarmament

What Happened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a hard line on Sunday, rejecting a 15-point peace proposal from President Trump's Board of Peace aimed at ending the war in Gaza. Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said flatly: "Israel rejects the 15-point document. The IDF will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed."

The rejection is a direct challenge to a key piece of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework that was signed last year, which called for Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza to disarm in exchange for a phased IDF withdrawal. Trump has publicly said Hamas agreed to disarm, but the timeline and mechanics of how that would actually happen remain unresolved months later.

Why the Plan Is Stuck At the center of the standoff is a classic chicken-and-egg problem. The Board of Peace's plan reportedly lays out steps for Israeli withdrawal alongside disarmament benchmarks. But Netanyahu is signaling Israel won't move first — or even alongside — a process it doesn't fully trust. His government wants proof of "true" disarmament before any IDF pullback, while continuing military operations to "thwart threats" in the meantime.

That leaves the ceasefire framework in a strange limbo: technically signed, publicly touted by Trump as a diplomatic win, but functionally stalled on the ground because the two sides disagree on sequencing and verification.

The Bigger Picture This isn't happening in isolation. The U.S. is simultaneously navigating tense back-channel communications with Iran, and just days earlier ousted a top general overseeing European command — a reminder that the Gaza standoff is one piece of a much larger, high-stakes Middle East chessboard the Trump administration is trying to manage all at once.

For a ceasefire billed as a breakthrough, the gap between the diplomatic headline and the reality on the ground is significant. Trump's team has an interest in showing progress; Netanyahu has domestic and security incentives to move slowly and demand concrete guarantees before withdrawing forces.

What To Watch The key question now is whether the Board of Peace revises its proposal to satisfy Israel's disarmament-first demand, or whether this becomes another prolonged standoff that stalls the broader reconstruction and governance plans for postwar Gaza. Until Hamas' disarmament is independently verified — not just promised — expect the IDF to stay put and the ceasefire to remain more paper than practice.