The Hamas terrorist group must be fully disarmed before the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan can commence, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Monday.
“I see a lot of positive elements in the efforts of the Board of Peace, under the auspices of President Trump and his leadership,” Herzog said as he received the diplomatic credentials of several ambassadors.
The Israeli head of state said the plan’s implementation would depend on “the clear caveat and undertaking that Hamas must be disarmed,” adding, “I hope Hamas will be disarmed fully.”
This, he continued, “is clearly the basis of moving forward to the next phase by bringing in the government of technocrats,” referring to the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
“The efforts of the Americans, the Board of Peace, President Trump, and CEO of the Board of Peace Nickolay Mladenov can bring a certain vision of hope, also to the people of Gaza and to the people of Israel,” said Herzog.
“I sincerely hope and pray that we will find ways to move forward with our Palestinian neighbors on all fronts, to have a dialogue with our Palestinian neighbors,” he added.
Israel has conveyed “comments and concerns” to the White House after U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced an agreement to implement Hamas’s disarmament under the peace plan, an Israeli official told JNS on Monday.
Doron Spielman, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told JNS that “the version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions.”
“Over the past eight months, according to Israeli intelligence, Hamas has used the ceasefire to rearm, recruit thousands of additional terrorists, rebuild its military infrastructure, and prepare for further Oct. 7-style massacres,” he said, in reference to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 people in the Jewish state.
“The indispensable first step toward any lasting arrangement is the genuine, verifiable and irreversible demilitarization of Hamas,” Spielman continued. “Demilitarization means Hamas physically surrendering its weapons,” he emphasized.
“Anything short of full demilitarization will leave Hamas with the capability to threaten Israel again,” he added.
Trump announced on Thursday that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement with Hamas for the complete disarmament of the terrorist groups that control the Gaza Strip.
It was a “major milestone in the implementation” of his 20-point plan to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war and begin the recovery process in the enclave, he said.
The pact will be implemented in phases, as the Israel Defense Forces withdraws as disarmament progresses, according to Trump.
An International Stabilization Force under the auspices of the Board of Peace is to work in tandem with a newly built Palestinian police force to provide security.
