Ben-Gvir rejects Gaza deal, says assassinations of Hamas leaders ‘must continue’

“A commitment to stop the assassinations of the terrorist organization’s murderers is tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organizing for the next massacre.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected a Gaza agreement that includes Hamas surrendering its weapons and a gradual Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

U.S. President Donald Trump described the proposal as “a big step for the Middle East” while declining to address whether Israeli forces would leave Gaza.

Writing on Telegram, Ben-Gvir called the agreement “unacceptable.”

“After the October 7 massacre, the blood of every Hamas member is on his head, and therefore a commitment to stop the assassinations of the terrorist organization’s murderers is tantamount to agreeing to Hamas organizing for the next massacre,” Ben-Gvir wrote. “The assassinations in Gaza must continue, the encouragement of (Palestinian) emigration (from the Strip) must happen. Israel must win.”

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump was asked whether the Israel Defense Forces would withdraw from Gaza under the agreement with Hamas but did not directly respond. Referring to the agreement, which includes the terror group’s disarmament, Trump called it “a big step for the Middle East” and said, “Israel is very happy.”

The comments followed publication by the Gaza Peace Council of what it described as a roadmap for implementing Trump’s Gaza plan.

Under the document, a timeline and implementation mechanisms are to be established within 14 days.

The National Committee for the Management of Gaza, described as a “technocratic government,” would then enter the Strip, followed by deployment of the International Stabilization Force.

The framework states that a process would begin to decommission and store “heavy weapons, sites for producing combat equipment, weapons warehouses and tunnels.”

It says the process “will be linked to a gradual Israeli withdrawal from areas under its control in the Gaza Strip and to the disarmament of armed militias.”

Israeli officials reiterated that any military pullback remains contingent on Hamas giving up its weapons.

“Regarding various publications about political progress in the Gaza Strip, Israel has reiterated and clarified that there will be no withdrawal of the IDF from the current yellow line without real disarmament of Hamas from its weapons,” a political source said.

A senior Israeli official separately said Israeli troops would not withdraw from Gaza without “genuine” disarmament of Hamas.

Hamas said implementation of the ceasefire’s second phase depends on Israel fully carrying out the first phase.

The terror group said discussions over heavy weapons were conditioned on the “cessation of aggression, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, early reconstruction, entry of an administrative committee, deployment of an international defense force, dismantling of armed gangs and militias and establishment of a Palestinian state.”