Israel has said Hamas must disarm before Gaza can be rebuilt, calling the group’s refusal to surrender its weapons the main obstacle to reconstruction. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office set out the position in a statement on Tuesday, reaffirming Israel’s commitment to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

The statement, titled “Statement on Gaza and the Board of Peace” and released on X, says: “Under the plan, Hamas must disarm and Gaza must be demilitarized before reconstruction begins.” It adds that Hamas has not surrendered a single weapon so far.

What Israel’s statement says

The Prime Minister’s Office said Israel had hoped Hamas would honour its commitment to disarm, demilitarise, step down from governance and begin de-radicalising Gaza. “To date, Hamas has not surrendered a single weapon, and it continues to hold the people of Gaza hostage to its terrorist rule,” the statement said.

Israel also accused Hamas of systematically diverting humanitarian supplies to rebuild its military network. The statement claimed the group “used cement intended for homes to build terror tunnels, it turned water pipes into missile launchers, and it used sanitation pumps to manufacture rockets,” and accused the United Nations and UNRWA of turning a blind eye. Those are Israel’s claims; they have not been independently verified.

The statement concluded by calling on mediators to demand that Hamas disarm immediately throughout Gaza, saying: “Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza… Its continued refusal to disarm remains the principal obstacle to the reconstruction of Gaza.”

Washington’s position

The United States has taken the same line on sequencing. President Donald Trump pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday, 5 November, to take concrete steps on the Gaza plan now that Israel’s election campaign is over, Axios reported on 8 November, citing two sources. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s senior envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff joined the call, which Netanyahu initiated.

A senior US official told Israel’s Channel 12 that reconstruction will not begin without progress on disarming Hamas, proceeding gradually and subject to verification. Trump’s call was his clearest push yet to restart a plan that had been effectively frozen for months while Israel fought an election campaign, after Israelis voted on 27 October.

What the 20-point plan involves

Trump’s 20-point plan calls for Hamas to disarm, Gaza to be demilitarised with weapons under international supervision, a technocratic Palestinian government to take over, an International Stabilization Force to deploy, and Israeli forces to withdraw in phases. Only then would large-scale reconstruction begin.

The Board of Peace, the body Trump created to oversee the plan, presented a six-month Gaza recovery programme worth $2.45 billion at the United Nations General Assembly in September. But the programme remains a document until the political groundwork is laid, above all on who disarms whom and who governs Gaza next.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair visited Israel on 7 November to press Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to back the plan. Eisenkot was tapped by Israel’s president on 7 November to try to form a government. Netanyahu remains sceptical that Hamas will ever demilitarise, saying the group is reconstituting and rearming in Gaza.

Winter aid and the humanitarian picture

Israel’s statement also highlighted winter aid it says it has facilitated through COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees crossings. The winterisation plan includes more than 91,000 tents, more than 8,200 trucks of tarpaulins, blankets, winter clothing and supplies, 12 vacuum trucks to pump and remove sewage, repairs to water and sewage networks, and fuel to operate pumping facilities.

The aid matters because Gaza’s first winter storm flooded at least 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, leaving more than a million people facing a harsh winter with far too little shelter. Israel says it will continue to support winter preparedness, but insists Hamas must not be allowed to exploit humanitarian supplies to rebuild its military capabilities.

Hamas’s position

Hamas has not agreed to disarm. The group denies trying to rebuild its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the deal, while demanding the establishment of a Palestinian administration before it will consider handing over any part of its weapons. Hamas announced in July that it was dissolving its governing body in favour of a UN-backed technocratic committee, but the committee, based in Cairo, has not been allowed to enter Gaza.

With disarmament unresolved, Israeli withdrawal stalled and no government yet formed in Israel, the sequence at the heart of the plan — disarmament first, reconstruction second — remains the central dispute, as ANI reported from Jerusalem on 11 November.