‘No disarmament, no ceasefire’: Netanyahu lays out conditions for Gaza truce
The Israeli premier is insisting on demands for Hamas’s complete surrender and the exile of its leadership from Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 10 July that Hamas must fully disarm if Israel is to agree to a permanent ceasefire in ongoing negotiations.
“At the beginning of this [60-day] ceasefire, we will enter negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. In order for us to achieve this, our minimum conditions must be met: Hamas lays down its weapons, Gaza is demilitarized, Hamas no longer has any governmental or military capabilities,” the prime minister said in a statement before his departure from Washington.
“If [our demands] can be achieved through negotiations – great. If it’s not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways — by using force, the force of our heroic army,” he added.
Hamas said on Thursday night that Netanyahu’s statements confirm his “malicious intentions” and his efforts to “place obstacles” in the way of reaching a deal.
Several rounds of negotiations on a new ceasefire proposal have been held in Qatar over the past week.
The proposal is based on an earlier framework put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which is meant to see the implementation of a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing 10 living captives and the bodies of 18 captives.
Throughout the 60 days, talks would continue for a permanent ceasefire. However, Hamas has rejected Israel’s terms regarding disarmament and is demanding troop withdrawals and convincing guarantees that a permanent truce can be achieved.
During a meeting this week with the families of Israeli captives in Gaza, Netanyahu “insisted that he would not budge from his demands for Hamas to surrender, give up its arms and agree for its leaders to go into exile,” two informed sources told the Times of Israel.
According to Axios, US, Israeli, and Qatari officials held secret talks at the White House earlier this week, focusing on remaining sticking points in the ceasefire proposal.
The sources who spoke to the outlet said the main obstacle was the maps for a limited withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which Tel Aviv provided.
Qatar warned Israeli officials that the issue would likely be met with rejection from Hamas, and could potentially collapse the negotiations.
“Israel later presented a new map that includes a wider IDF withdrawal,” the sources said.
“There are still some gaps remaining, but we are in a positive trajectory at the moment,” another official told Axios.
“While some of the mediators felt the new maps allowed for a breakthrough on what has become the main sticking point in negotiations, Hamas negotiators have poured cold water on the optimism, saying they won’t accept the wide buffer zone Israel is still trying to maintain in Gaza,” a Palestinian official told the Times of Israel.
The new maps provided by Israel reportedly include a reduction of forces from the Morag Axis, a corridor established by Israeli troops in Gaza earlier this year.
However, the maps still envision Israeli control over around one-third of the strip.
“We cannot accept the perpetuation of the occupation of our land and the surrender of our people to isolated enclaves under the control of the occupation army. This is what the negotiating delegation is presenting to the occupation so far in the current round of negotiations in Doha,” Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP on Thursday.
US officials, including US President Donald Trump and Witkoff, have suggested that talks are going well and that an agreement may be reached soon.
However, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said on 8 July that negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire “will need time.”