More than three days after US President Donald Trump unveiled an agreement to disarm Hamas as the next phase of his Gaza peace plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has still not said publicly whether he accepts it.
Instead, the Israeli leader’s silence was accompanied by a sharp increase in airstrikes over the weekend which killed 28 people in the enclave – the deadliest toll in weeks – even though the agreement specifically called for a halt to attacks.
While Trump, the mediators and other Arab countries had initially celebrated what they billed as a significant breakthrough, Netanyahu’s position was relayed through unnamed “Israeli officials,” foreign spokesmen and political allies, who insisted Israel had not signed on to the deal, and did not intend to withdraw from Gaza before Hamas is fully disarmed. His far-right allies were more vocal, demanding the prime minister convene the Cabinet to reject the plan and halt its implementation altogether.
By Sunday evening, Israeli strikes on Gaza appeared to have eased, and had not resumed 24 hours later, but the escalation drew a sharp rebuke from Nickolay Mladenov, the chief envoy for Trump’s Board of Peace. Mladenov wrote Sunday on X that the weekend’s violence had “killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies,” warning it was undermining “intense efforts” to advance the disarmament framework,” and noting that “both parties” carry obligations under the White House-brokered ceasefire agreement of October 2025. Behind the scenes, two sources familiar with the matter said the rebuke reflected “anger” among the US and the international mediators who demanded Israel halt its strikes in Gaza.
