Donald Trump thought he had a breakthrough. Benjamin Netanyahu has now made clear that Israel is not signing up to those terms.
The Israeli prime minister publicly rejected Trump's 15-point Gaza peace plan on Sunday, insisting that the IDF will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is genuinely disarmed. The move has put Trump's diplomatic push at the centre of a striking standoff, with Hamas backing the roadmap while Israel rejects it.
At the centre of the dispute is a deceptively simple question: who moves first?
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is flatly rejecting the Gaza Board of Peace plan, and will not withdraw soldiers from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 9, 2026
He says the US has ideas which are unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/MSESt6RJTM
Netanyahu Draws a Hard Red Line
Speaking at Israel's weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu delivered a blunt message after reports suggested that Israel had accepted the US-backed roadmap.
'Israel rejects the 15-point document,' he said, before making his position on an Israeli withdrawal unmistakable. 'The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed,' Netanyahu said, stressing that he meant heavy weapons, lighter weapons and all weapons. He demanded what he called 'genuine disarmament', not 'a fictitious one'.
That language matters because it exposes the fault line running through Trump's plan. Netanyahu is not merely asking Hamas to promise that it will surrender its weapons. He wants Israel to be certain that Hamas's military capabilities have actually been dismantled before Israeli forces pull back.
Trump's Breakthrough Hits a Wall
The timing makes Netanyahu's rejection particularly awkward for Trump. On 30 July, Trump hailed what he described as a breakthrough, saying Hamas and other armed groups had accepted a 15-point roadmap developed by his Board of Peace. Trump called the agreement a 'monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY'.
The plan was supposed to move the Gaza process towards disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction under a new Palestinian technocratic administration. Instead, Netanyahu has now publicly rejected the document underpinning that breakthrough.
He nevertheless insisted that discussions with Washington were continuing, saying some US proposals were acceptable while others were not. He also said Israel knows how to stand its ground, even against its closest allies.
Netanyahu says Israel rejects a Trump-backed Gaza peace plan and will not withdraw from the territory without Hamas disarming.https://t.co/gqzbg1qb84 pic.twitter.com/bzZzrMt9wd
— CNN (@CNN) August 9, 2026
Hamas Says It Still Backs the Roadmap
Hamas, meanwhile, has taken a very different position. The group has endorsed the roadmap and called for mediators to pressure Israel to meet its obligations. But there is an important complication: Hamas has avoided accepting the word 'disarmament' on the sweeping terms demanded by Netanyahu.
Instead, Hamas has said weapons could be handed over for storage under a US-backed Palestinian technocratic administration that would oversee Gaza. Reuters reported that Hamas also objects to later demands that it surrender light weapons, arguing that it is bound by the original roadmap.
So the 'yes' from Hamas is not unconditional. And that is precisely why the peace process is now stuck.
The Dangerous Sequencing Problem
Trump's Gaza peace plan attempts to solve the problem in stages. The roadmap calls for an immediate halt to military operations, the decommissioning and storage of heavy weapons, military sites, weapons depots and tunnels, followed by an Israeli withdrawal linked to verified progress. An International Stabilization Force would eventually secure areas vacated by Israeli troops, train Palestinian police and support aid deliveries.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's Gaza envoy, said the process would happen sector by sector. Once a designated area is verified as effectively weapon-free, Israel would be expected to withdraw from that area, with the process eventually extending across Gaza.
On paper, that creates a pathway forward. In reality, Netanyahu is demanding assurances that Hamas is genuinely disarmed before Israel takes the risk of pulling back.
Netanyahu Faces Pressure at Home
Netanyahu is also navigating a domestic political minefield. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich immediately praised the prime minister's rejection, arguing that Israel's forces should not withdraw from Gaza and that reconstruction should not begin before Hamas is completely dismantled and demobilised.
Netanyahu has also ruled out accepting a Palestinian state in either Gaza or the West Bank, adding another major obstacle to any broader political settlement. That means his confrontation with Trump is not happening in isolation. Netanyahu is balancing pressure from Washington against powerful voices inside his own coalition demanding an even harder line.
Trump Now Faces the Real Test
This is why Netanyahu's latest defiance matters. Trump has a Gaza peace plan. Hamas says it remains committed to the roadmap. The United States has a proposed mechanism for phased disarmament and withdrawal.
But Israel's prime minister is saying the current document is unacceptable. The peace deal has therefore reached its most difficult stage yet. The question is no longer simply whether Hamas will surrender its weapons or whether Israel will leave Gaza.
It is whether Trump can persuade both sides to accept the same sequence, the same safeguards and the same definition of disarmament. Until that happens, Trump's much-touted Gaza breakthrough remains trapped between two very different versions of what peace is supposed to look like.
