TEL AVIV – Israel has formally objected to the terms of a US-proposed 15-point framework for resolving the Gaza conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Thursday, saying the document fails to adequately address Israel’s core demand for Hamas disarmament and the demilitarization of the Strip – and that Israel has communicated those objections to American envoy Tony Blair.
“Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarization of the Strip, as a precondition for any process,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The 15-point document under discussion does not sufficiently address these demands, and Israel has conveyed its objections to envoy Tony Blair.”
The statement confirmed that Israeli forces would not withdraw from the Yellow Line – the boundary Israeli troops have held inside Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire went into effect – until Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is demilitarized. That line currently places Israeli military control over more than 50 percent of Gaza’s territory. Moving it, Netanyahu’s office said Thursday, is contingent on conditions the current document does not secure.
The objection places Israel formally at odds with the framework Washington has been pressing as the mechanism for advancing the deal’s next phase. The 15-point document’s contents have not been made public. What is public is Netanyahu’s minimum: complete disarmament first, then any process. On October 9, 2025, Israel and Hamas, with mediation from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Turkey, agreed to implement the first phase of the peace plan presented by Trump. The ceasefire went into effect the following day, with Israeli troops withdrawing to the Yellow Line under the terms of that agreement.
Hamas has not accepted full disarmament as a precondition for any process. It did not accept it in the October 2025 agreement and has given no indication since that its position has shifted. The gap between what Israel demands and what Hamas has shown any willingness to concede is the gap Blair has been tasked with closing. Thursday’s statement from Netanyahu’s office established that the current document does not close it. Netanyahu’s diplomatic leverage with Washington has been described as significantly weakened since his July 28 White House meeting with Trump, with his demands on Iran also falling short of what he sought – a pattern now visible in the Gaza track as well.
The October 2025 agreement’s first phase has been in effect for nine months. What the second phase was supposed to contain has never been publicly agreed. Thursday’s statement is one reason why: the fundamental disagreement over whether Hamas disarmament can serve as a precondition was not resolved in October and has not been resolved since. The broader Iran-Israel conflict continues in parallel, producing a security environment in which any Gaza arrangement that leaves Hamas armed represents, in Israel’s stated view, an unacceptable threat.
Whether Blair has a response to Israel’s formal objections, and whether the United States will revise the 15-point document to address the disarmament demand or will press Israel to accept less, is the question Thursday’s statement leaves open. Neither Blair nor the US administration had issued a public response as of Thursday evening.
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