Netanyahu urges regional states to help forcibly expel Hamas from Gaza
The Israeli PM made the call on the heels of a UNSC resolution that calls for the foreign occupation of Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18 November called on neighboring states to help drive Hamas “and its supporters” out of the region, issuing the appeal a day after the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
The plan, endorsed by the council through Resolution 2803, provides amnesty for Hamas members who surrender their weapons and accept “peaceful coexistence,” while offering safe passage to those who choose to leave.
Netanyahu published several posts on X praising Trump – who urged the Israeli president to pardon him despite the ICC prosecutor’s move to seek arrest warrants over war crimes in Gaza – and asserting that the initiative promises “full demilitarization, disarmament, and deradicalization of Gaza.”
He added that “Israel extends its hand in peace and prosperity to all of our neighbors” while urging states to “join us in expelling Hamas and its supporters from the region.”
A spokesperson later said the prime minister’s meaning was the removal of Hamas from Gaza “as outlined in the 20-point plan” so that the group “has no ability to govern the Palestinian people inside the Gaza Strip.”
Diplomats cited by Reuters say entrenched positions on both sides have stalled progress, noting the absence of timelines or enforcement tools despite broad international backing.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) denounced the resolution as a “new form” of foreign guardianship designed to impose what Israel failed to achieve during its genocide in Gaza.
Hamas said that the Security Council resolution fails to “live up to the demands and political and humanitarian rights” of Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, on the other hand, welcomed it as a “first step,” while the US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz claimed it “dismantles Hamas’s grip” and opens a political horizon.
Russia and China abstained, while Algeria voted in favor despite statements by Hamas and other resistance factions calling on the North African country to reject it.
Hamas emphasized that any foreign troops must remain strictly on Gaza’s borders under UN supervision, warning that an interior deployment tasked with disarmament would lose neutrality.
The resolution authorizes an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and invites states to join a “Board of Peace” to oversee reconstruction and economic activity in Gaza.
Israel has partially withdrawn but still controls 53 percent of the strip, and continually violates the ceasefire through repeated fire on civilians and intermittent bombing.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 18 November that Hamas’s popularity in Gaza has climbed sharply since the ceasefire, reversing losses suffered during the US-Israeli genocide in the strip.
WSJ attributed the shift to the group’s restoration of basic security after Israeli forces pulled back to the so-called Yellow Line, allowing Hamas fighters to resume patrolling neighborhoods, curb criminal gangs, and push back factions backed by Israel.