Israel will not withdraw from its current line in the Gaza Strip and will continue acting against militant threats, a senior diplomatic source said on Monday, throwing into doubt the roadmap published on Friday by US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) for Gaza.The statement came after the BoP high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, at talks in Jerusalem on Monday, asked prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to suspend Israeli military strikes and targeted killings for 14 days while the sides worked out the plan’s remaining details.The latest setback follows Friday’s dramatic announcement that an agreement had been reached on a gradual process to disarm Hamas and other militant groups and secure a full Israel Defence Forces withdrawal from Gaza.“Israel will not withdraw from the current line in the Gaza Strip and will continue to thwart any threat to our civilians and soldiers,” the Israeli diplomatic source said.Since Friday’s announcement Israel has stepped up its attacks in Gaza, killing at least 18 people in a 24-hour period, according to the Hamas health ministry.Meanwhile, ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strook from the far-right Religious Zionist Party called on Netanyahu to prevent an international stabilisation force (ISF) from entering Gaza. Troops from Uganda and Morocco were expected to enter the enclave in the coming weeks to act as a buffer between the Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.[ Donald Trump says Iran talks will happen todayOpens in new window ]The ministers argued that the terms set out in the published roadmap were not those presented to the Israeli cabinet before it approved the plan. Netanyahu has yet to respond publicly to their demand. The two ministers, who both voted in favour of the ISF deployment, now claim the decision was taken “on the basis of false information”.“The roadmap document published by the BoP is dangerous for Israel and completely contradicts the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza,” they wrote. They demanded that the security cabinet convene immediately and vote on a decision blocking implementation of the roadmap.The difficulties in efforts to break the deadlock in Gaza coincided with another setback in the region for Trump after Iran denied his claim that negotiations would renew on Monday aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.Despite the Iranian claim, Trump insisted that talks with Iran are ongoing, accusing Tehran’s leadership of denying negotiations while engaging in discussions with Washington.In a post on Truth Social, he said Iran was being “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming that Iranian officials had requested a meeting and that talks had begun, with additional discussions planned.He stressed that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz through its naval presence and warned that nothing would pass through unless Washington allowed it.“Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished,” Trump wrote.He reiterated that Iran would never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, saying Washington was seeking a solution to a problem Tehran had caused “for decades”.Iran said it was negotiating with Oman to reach “an understanding” over a temporary route through the waterway to allow commercial shipping to resume but denied talks with the US.“We are now going to reach an understanding on a route acceptable to both sides – neither the northern route nor the southern route – but one that respects the sovereign rights of both sides and safeguards our national interests and security,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.Talks to end the conflict collapsed last month, ending a ceasefire agreed in April.
Israel rejects Trump’s Gaza roadmap and refuses to suspend strikes
Further setback for US president after Iran denies peace talks are taking place










