IDF preparing for possible Gaza withdrawal without Hamas disarmament – report

The IDF is reportedly drafting plans for a possible partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip without the full disarmament of the Hamas terror organization.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The Israeli military is drafting plans for a possible withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip without the full disarmament of the Hamas terror organization, Channel 12 has reported.

The discussions reportedly envision multinational troops replacing Israeli forces at several locations inside Gaza, as the Trump administration presses Israel to advance to the next phase of its plan for ending the conflict and establishing a new security and governing structure in the Strip.

The deliberations do not mean that a withdrawal has been approved.

Channel 12 reported Saturday night that Israeli defense officials are preparing options in case the political leadership ultimately gives the go-ahead as US pressure for movement on the plan increases.

The discussions mark a notable contrast with repeated public statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that the IDF will not relinquish its current positions before Hamas gives up its weapons.

Netanyahu reiterated that position on August 4, declaring that Israel would not withdraw from its current lines until Hamas had been completely disarmed.

The Trump administration “sent us a draft. We did not agree. It is not our draft,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel had submitted its own objections.

The disagreement centers partly on sequencing. The US-backed roadmap links Hamas’s disarmament with phased Israeli withdrawals, while Israel has insisted that meaningful withdrawal cannot precede complete demilitarization.

Hamas, meanwhile, has said Israeli forces must withdraw before it takes action on its weapons.

Against that backdrop, Channel 12 reported that Israeli security officials are already studying how localized withdrawals could work if Jerusalem ultimately accepts US demands to begin moving forward.

One of the main concerns is whether the proposed International Stabilization Force would be large enough to replace Israeli troops and maintain security in areas vacated by the IDF.

“The number of troops is simply not enough. It’s only a handful of soldiers,” a senior Israeli security source told Channel 12.

The official warned that Washington was constructing increasingly ambitious plans around a force whose actual troop commitments remain far below what Israeli officials believe would be necessary to control territory inside Gaza. Channel 12 reported that Israeli security officials are deeply skeptical that the force, at its currently expected size, could assume significant responsibility from the IDF.

Morocco is currently expected to provide the largest contingent, with roughly 500 troops, according to the report.

Talks are also underway for Uganda to provide a force of approximately the same size, while other participating countries are expected to send only several dozen personnel apiece.

That would leave the multinational force far smaller than some of the versions envisioned earlier in the year.

At the inaugural Board of Peace summit in February, Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, the US commander chosen to lead the International Stabilization Force, outlined plans for an eventual force of roughly 20,000 troops divided among five sectors of Gaza.

Separate US planning documents called for a military base capable of housing 5,000 personnel.

Those ambitions have since encountered difficulty as governments weigh the military, political and legal risks of sending troops into Gaza.

Israel took an important step toward the force’s deployment on July 26, when the security cabinet approved the legal framework necessary to allow foreign troops into Israeli-controlled parts of the Strip.

An Israeli official said at the time that an initial contingent was expected to include about 200 personnel from “friendly countries such as Uganda and Morocco,” with Albania, Kazakhstan and Kosovo also among countries that had agreed to participate. Morocco was expected to be among the first to deploy.

The multinational force is a central component of Trump’s broader Gaza framework. The plan calls for Hamas to relinquish its weapons, Israeli forces to withdraw in stages, Gaza to be administered by a Palestinian technocratic government and the international force to provide security during the transition.

The Board of Peace has also been pushing a pilot project in southern Gaza under which Israeli troops would withdraw from a designated area near Rafah and be replaced by international personnel, allowing vetted Palestinian civilians to move into the zone.

Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov welcomed Israel’s July decision allowing the force to move ahead, calling the ISF “a critical part of the agreed framework for stabilizing Gaza” and supporting its demilitarization.

But the most contentious question remains what happens first: Hamas disarmament or further Israeli withdrawal.

Trump announced on July 30 that negotiators had reached what he described as a historic agreement for the “COMPLETE DISARMAMENT” of Hamas and other armed groups.

Sources close to Hamas, however, described the document as a draft and said heavy weapons would be stored under Palestinian control rather than surrendered to Israel.

Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad was explicit about the group’s position.

“We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip,” he said.

Israel rejected that sequencing. An Israeli official said Jerusalem required the complete removal of Hamas’s weapons and the demilitarization of Gaza “as a precondition for any process.”

The Board of Peace’s proposal reportedly requires Israel initially to return to the original Yellow Line established under the October 2025 ceasefire. Israel originally withdrew to that line while retaining control of roughly 53% of Gaza, but subsequent IDF advances have increased the area under Israeli control to more than 60%.

Israel’s public position has been that even that pullback will not occur until Hamas disarms. The newly reported security discussions indicate that officials are nevertheless developing contingency plans for a different outcome if Washington succeeds in pushing the diplomatic process forward.

Board of PeaceGazagaza stripHamasIDF