Netanyahu told a visiting U.S. delegation today that Hamas must hand its weapons over for destruction under
By Bernard Moerdler,
Netanyahu told a visiting U.S. delegation today that Hamas must hand its weapons over for destruction under American supervision, and that no reconstruction will begin in Gaza until Hamas disarms across the entire territory, according to Walla. The meeting in Jerusalem ran more than four hours and included Jared Kushner, Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov.
Netanyahu said the IDF will not withdraw from the Yellow Line at this stage and that Israel will not change its policy of striking threats to its forces and civilians. He told Kushner it would be "problematic" to advance the Gaza plan before the Israeli elections, CNN reported.
The dispute over sequencing remains open. Israel does not accept that starting the process obliges it to withdraw in parallel, and holds roughly 60 percent of Gaza. Hamas says it accepts the 15-point roadmap in principle but conditions implementation on Israel halting strikes, withdrawing and moving forward on reconstruction.
The Jerusalem meeting came a day after the delegation met the Hamas leadership in Egypt, as we reported earlier. Kushner pressed Hamas there for concrete and verifiable disarmament steps rather than a statement of principle, according to Walla.
Israeli elections are set for October 27, and Netanyahu is under pressure from his partners on the right not to agree to further withdrawals before Hamas is fully disarmed.
Topics: Gaza, IDF, Israeli Politics
Reported by Bernard Moerdler for Bernie News Network. See our editorial standards and corrections policy.