‘Not our draft’: Netanyahu disowns US-backed Gaza plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel did not agree to a US-backed plan for Gaza, even after receiving assurances that an Israeli pullout would only happen after Hamas disarms.
In a video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday night, Netanyahu said the team of US President Donald Trump “believes that they can bring about the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza. We are checking this. They sent us a draft—we did not agree to it, it is not our draft. We sent our comments.”
Netanyahu met with the US-backed Board of Peace on Monday and received guarantees that the Israeli army would only be required to leave its current positions in Gaza after Hamas disarms. But pressure has been growing on the premier from his far-right coalition partners to reject the deal.
Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel held a fresh round of US-sponsored talks in Rome on Tuesday, with Beirut seeking Israel’s phased withdrawal from the country’s south.
Convoys carrying delegations from the two countries arrived in the morning to the US Embassy in the Italian capital, where discussions are scheduled to run until Thursday.
At negotiations in Washington in June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon’s south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as “pilot zones.”
This week’s negotiations are the seventh round of Washington-mediated talks since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.
