Source : Perth Now news
Israel has shared “serious security concerns” with the White House regarding a proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli official says.
Doron Spielman, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, told the Associated Press that Israel’s intelligence assessment is that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely demilitarising.
He said the Israeli military would not withdraw from the Gaza Strip – where it controls more than 60 per cent of the territory – before Hamas disarms.
“Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities and seek to carry out another October 7-style attack,” he said, referring to the attack in 2023 that triggered Israel’s war in the enclave.
“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman said.
His comments come days after Hamas said that it would begin disarming as part of the US-brokered ceasefire signed nine months ago to end the nearly three-year-long conflict.
It marks a potential breakthrough in ending the conflict but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remain.
Hamas says it has agreed to disarm but the process is littered with obstacles
US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels.
It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.
Hamas disarming has been a sticking point and has deadlocked negotiations for months.
In announcing the deal on social media, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases”.
A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by AP said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave.
It is not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.
A process to decommission and store heavy weapons and to dismantle military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces.
The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.
The areas Israel controls in the strip have been mostly destroyed and depopulated.
Most of the territory’s two million residents are in the other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighbourhoods.
Israel appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough re-election battle, with opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023 attack, and his religious-nationalist coalition partners urging him to keep up the pressure on Hamas and leave forces in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday the government would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but that he was “very sceptical” that would happen.
On Saturday overnight and Sunday Israeli strikes killed at least 10, including children, health officials said.
A strike on a residential apartment in the south of the Gaza Strip killed three family members, including their four-year-old child, according to Nasser hospital, where the bodies arrived.
The Israeli military said the overnight strikes had targeted Hamas military operatives, without elaborating.
with Reuters
