Smotrich, Strook urge Netanyahu to cancel approval of US-brokered Gaza plan

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strook urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to immediately convene the Security Cabinet to revoke its approval of the Washington-brokered peace plan in Gaza.

The ministers moreover called to prevent the entry of the International Stabilization Force into the Gaza Strip until its “purpose, legal authority, and missions” are properly amended and clearly delineated.

Explaining the letter, Smotrich tweeted in Hebrew that “The [15-point Roadmap] plan published by the Board of Peace is not the plan that was presented to us in the Security Cabinet, nor is it the one we voted on” on Oct. 9, 2025.

The Roadmap published last week was “fundamentally different” from the one presented to the Israeli Cabinet at the time, he wrote.

He listed the points of contention in the new framework, stressing that it does not guarantee the full demilitarization of Gaza; requires the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw before Hamas lays down its weapons; applies the Palestinian Authority’s anti-Semitic legislation in Gaza; changes the mandate of the ISF to the extent that it restricts IDF operations in Gaza; and restores the idea of a Palestinian state as a political objective.

“A framework that contradicts the objectives of the war and the commitments made to Israel cannot be advanced in Gaza. I will not allow such a framework to erase the tremendous achievements won by the heroic soldiers of the IDF through their blood, their bodies, and their sacrifice,” Smotrich wrote.

On Sunday, an Israeli official told the Associated Press that Israel has conveyed “serious security concerns” to the White House over the agreement to disarm the Hamas terrorist organization.

Doron Spielman, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told AP that Jerusalem’s intelligence assessment was that Hamas remained committed to rebuilding its military capabilities, and that the IDF would not withdraw from Gaza until the terrorist group was disarmed.

“Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry out another Oct. 7-style attack,” he said, in reference to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 people in the Jewish state.

“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,” Spielman added.

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