Israeli airstrikes killed at least 15 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, even as President Donald Trump announced progress on a ceasefire agreement. Israeli officials stated they saw no agreement to stop the attacks. The strikes continued for a second straight day.
Eli Cohen, the Israeli minister of energy and a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's security cabinet, declared there was no agreement to halt strikes on Gaza. He asserted Israel needed full control of the territory, claiming it already controlled 70%. Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office, told the White House that Israel held “serious security concerns” about a proposed Hamas disarmament deal. Spielman stated Israel’s intelligence assessed Hamas remained committed to rebuilding its military, not genuinely demilitarizing.
“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,” Spielman said, referencing the Hamas militant attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war. This attack, now approaching its third anniversary, killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Spielman insisted, “Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less.”
Who Pays the Price
The Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 73,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Women and children constitute approximately half of all fatalities, according to the ministry, whose records U.N. agencies and international organizations generally deem reliable. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its count. Local Gaza hospitals reported at least 17 people, including children, died in the latest Israeli strikes. A strike on a residential apartment in southern Gaza killed three family members, including their 4-year-old child. The Israeli military claimed these strikes targeted militant operatives.
Areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians now live in the other part of the territory, enduring squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods. The Hamas-run government has recently been dissolved.
The State's Demands
Trump announced a breakthrough on Thursday, claiming Hamas agreed to disarm under a U.S.-backed initiative to implement a ceasefire reached last year. The Trump-led Council of Peace, overseeing the ceasefire, published a 15-point roadmap on Friday detailing final implementation steps. This roadmap has not yet been carried out. Hamas stated it would hand over its weapons for storage only after Israel ceased military operations and withdrew its forces, as per the agreement reached last year. An Israeli official told Reuters that Israel would not withdraw from its current military positions unless Hamas executed a “genuine disarmament.”
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the agreement, which calls for all weapons held by the Hamas-run police to transfer to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival. The agreement also stipulates that decommissioning heavy weapons, dismantling military production sites and tunnels would commence after the committee's arrival and the deployment of international forces. This process would link to a phased Israeli withdrawal. The committee's arrival date remains unclear, dependent on other steps.
U.S. officials claimed Israel had been consulted throughout negotiations and was not asked to exceed its commitments from the ceasefire and hostage release agreement signed less than a year ago. What Israel conveyed to the White House remains unclear. Two sources familiar with the deal said Israel raised concerns with former British Prime Prime Minister Tony Blair, a member of the Trump-led Board of Peace. One source indicated Israel sought freedom to conduct military operations in Gaza. Another person familiar with the deal added Israel wanted Qatar and Turkey excluded from verifying agreement stages and demanded Hamas’ weapons be destroyed after confiscation.
The White House offered no additional comment Sunday regarding Israel’s assessment of Hamas’s military intentions. Netanyahu made no public statement on the initiative. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, called the initiative unacceptable, advocating for continued killing of Hamas leaders. Mohammed Dahlan, an ex-high-ranking Fatah official in the United Arab Emirates, posted on Facebook that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, told him he was working with the Israeli side to halt attacks on Gaza. Dahlan confirmed ongoing contacts with the U.S. to ensure full implementation, stating its success now hinges on Israel ending its daily attacks. Reuters sought comment from the U.S. State Department on Dahlan’s remarks; Israel provided no immediate comment.