Netanyahu rejects Trump Gaza draft, says no pullback before Hamas disarms

Deiral-balah,UPDATED: Aug 5, 2026 01:42 IST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current positions in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed, casting fresh doubt on a deal recently announced by US President Donald Trump. His remarks also pointed to a rare public disagreement with the Trump administration over the terms of the proposed arrangement.

The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to stop its strikes and start withdrawing from the roughly 60 per cent of Gaza it now controls. It was based on an October ceasefire deal that ended major military operations and led to the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, but progress on other parts of the agreement has stalled.

Netanyahu, who is facing a difficult re-election battle in October, repeated his position that disarmament must come first. He said Israeli forces would continue to "do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our territory, and our citizens". In a video posted on social media, he said, "The Trump administration sent us a draft. We did not agree. It is not our draft. We sent our comments.... This is our position".

Earlier in the day, Palestinians gathered for a mass funeral for more than 100 bodies recovered from the site of a deadly Israeli strike in Gaza in 2023. More than 300 people were killed on November 22, 2023, when warplanes flattened a residential block in Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood, weeks after the war with Hamas began. Around 40 bodies were recovered soon after the strike, but many others remained buried under the rubble.

Over the weekend, first responders recovered the remains of 112 victims, including 40 children, according to the Civil Defence, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. It said 157 bodies are still missing. One relative, Taysir al-Hassayna, said after the funeral prayers, "The only crime of these martyrs was that they remained steadfast and resilient in their homes, believing that these homes would protect them." Speaking about those still missing, he said it was "as if their bodies had evaporated without a trace".

The current ceasefire has allowed the recovery of remains in some parts of Gaza, bringing to light deaths from the war's early months. The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gaza's Health Ministry said Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 73,377 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire began. Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry's records department, said at least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives as still being under the rubble, and the actual figure could be much higher because entire families were sometimes wiped out with no one left to report the missing.

The victims mourned on Tuesday were from a residential block belonging to the Hassayna and Abu Sharia clan, and many were related. The remains, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were laid out in rows, with many marked by photographs and surrounded by flower petals. Hundreds gathered for funeral prayers, some standing on the rubble, before the bodies were carried on stretchers through a narrow street lined with destroyed buildings and buried in a nearby cemetery.

Violence has continued despite the ceasefire. Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 1,252 people have been killed in the territory since the truce took effect. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, says women and children make up most of the dead, though it does not separate civilians from militants. Israel says its strikes target militants who threaten its soldiers, took part in the October 7 attack or commit other violations, and says five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.

The US-backed ceasefire agreement reached last October said Hamas would be disarmed and Israel would withdraw, with an Stabilisation Force to be deployed and an independent Palestinian administration to oversee governance and reconstruction. Israel says progress depends on Hamas giving up its weapons, while Hamas says Israel must stop its strikes and begin withdrawing. As both sides accuse each other of violating the truce, Gaza remains devastated, with most of its 20 lakh residents displaced and many living in overcrowded tent camps where poor conditions have led to rodent infestations and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as chickenpox.

Netanyahu's rejection of the current draft has raised new uncertainty over the ceasefire process, even as Palestinians in Gaza continue to recover bodies from earlier strikes and face ongoing attacks, displacement and stalled reconstruction.

With PTI Inputs

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