Israeli prime minister refuses Gaza withdrawal until Hamas is fully disarmed as Washington confronts simultaneous crises involving Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and renewed Houthi attacks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected President Donald Trump’s 15-point Gaza peace proposal Sunday, opening a rare and potentially consequential disagreement between two leaders who have otherwise remained closely aligned throughout the widening Middle East conflict.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet, according to the Associated Press, while making clear that Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas has been fully disarmed.
The rejection puts Netanyahu directly at odds with a central provision of the Trump administration’s latest Gaza proposal, which calls for a phased Israeli withdrawal alongside the dismantling of Hamas’ military capabilities and a transition to a new Palestinian governing structure backed by international security forces.
Netanyahu’s objection appears to center largely on sequencing.
Trump’s proposal envisions Israeli forces pulling back as Hamas disarms. Netanyahu is insisting that Hamas must first be completely and verifiably stripped of its weapons before Israeli troops surrender additional territory.
The Israeli prime minister said the military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”
Despite rejecting the document, Netanyahu said Israel remains in discussions with Washington over Gaza, suggesting that the disagreement has not yet amounted to a complete breakdown in negotiations.
The White House did not immediately respond publicly to Netanyahu’s announcement Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
Hamas, meanwhile, says it remains committed to the broader roadmap and is calling on the Trump administration and other mediators to pressure Netanyahu to move forward.
“We remain committed to the road map,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said Sunday.
The confrontation comes at a politically sensitive moment for Netanyahu, with Israeli elections scheduled for Oct. 27 and members of his right-wing coalition pressing him to resist concessions involving Israeli security control or Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu has also repeatedly opposed the creation of a Palestinian state, describing such a state as a security threat to Israel.
Trump Takes ‘Low-Key’ Approach to Iran
The Gaza disagreement comes as Trump attempts to manage another potentially explosive front: Iran.
Trump told Axios over the weekend that his administration is deliberately taking a restrained approach toward Tehran rather than immediately returning to large-scale military action.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump said, describing the United States as “only semi-negotiating” with Iran while allowing sanctions and other economic pressures to bear down on the Iranian government.
The approach represents an effort by the White House to use economic and military pressure without immediately triggering another major round of combat.
Iranian officials, however, dispute the suggestion that formal negotiations have resumed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said messages are being exchanged through intermediaries and that negotiations cannot fully resume until Tehran’s conditions are addressed.
Those conditions are extensive.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has demanded a permanent end to the war, the removal of the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports, the withdrawal of American military forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets and compensation for damage caused during the war.
The demands illustrate just how far Washington and Tehran remain from a comprehensive settlement despite Trump’s suggestion that some form of limited communication is underway.
Iran Shakes Up National Security Leadership
Iran is also reorganizing its senior security leadership as the standoff continues.
Iranian state media reported Sunday that Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has been named to lead the country’s powerful Supreme National Security Council.
The appointment represents another major personnel change inside an Iranian government that has lost several senior political and military figures during the conflict.
Rezaei is a longtime figure inside Iran’s military and political establishment, and his elevation places a former Revolutionary Guard commander at the center of Tehran’s response to the United States, Israel and the continuing Strait of Hormuz crisis.
Strait of Hormuz Remains at Center of Crisis
One of the biggest unresolved issues is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and one of the world’s most strategically important energy corridors.
Iran and Oman are reportedly close to finalizing a temporary maritime arrangement that could allow ships to resume movement through portions of the strait.
Under the proposal, vessels would enter near Iran and exit near Oman without paying fees or tolls during the interim period. The tentative arrangement has reportedly received support from Gulf Cooperation Council nations and could eventually be announced jointly by Iran, Oman, the United States and the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization.
But Iranian officials are warning that such an agreement would not necessarily amount to the unrestricted reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Araghchi said discussions with Oman over “new maritime routes” were nearing completion but stressed that the arrangement does not mean the strait itself will fully reopen.
The continued uncertainty has kept global energy markets on edge, although crude prices have fallen substantially from their wartime peaks earlier this year.
Brent crude was trading around $83.50 per barrel Monday, according to Reuters, significantly below the levels above $110 seen during the height of the Hormuz disruption this spring.
Houthis Launch New Attacks
While Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran maneuver diplomatically, the danger of the conflict spreading through Iranian-aligned proxy forces remains significant.
Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen carried out another wave of drone and missile attacks over the weekend, targeting both Yemen’s Red Sea coast and Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis attacked the government-held port city of Mocha, also known as al-Makha, in repeated strikes Sunday.
Yemeni government-aligned forces said four troops and three civilians were killed in one of the attacks, with additional civilians wounded.
The Houthis also claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting an Aramco refinery in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry confirmed that a fire occurred at a facility connected to the refinery but reported no casualties and did not immediately attribute the fire to the Houthi strike.
The attacks underscore the fragile state of a region where several interconnected conflicts are now unfolding simultaneously.
For Trump, the diplomatic challenge is increasingly complicated.
His administration is trying to prevent renewed full-scale fighting with Iran, restore commercial traffic through one of the world’s most important shipping corridors and advance a Gaza agreement, all while one of America’s closest allies in the region has now publicly rejected a centerpiece of the president’s peace proposal.
Netanyahu, however, appears unwilling to compromise on what he views as Israel’s most fundamental security condition.
Before Israeli troops leave Gaza, he says, Hamas must first give up its guns.
For now, that disagreement leaves Trump’s Gaza plan stalled, and another major Middle East negotiation hanging in the balance.
