Israel has formally rejected Donald Trump's 15-point Gaza peace plan, in one of the sharpest public splits between Jerusalem and Washington in years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, repeating his position twice to remove any doubt. The core disagreement is sequencing: Trump's proposal calls for Israeli troops and Hamas disarmament to proceed in parallel phases, but Netanyahu insists that Hamas must surrender every weapon first — heavy arms, light arms, all arms — before a single Israeli soldier withdraws. Trump had described the plan last month as a breakthrough, and his team reported that Hamas had agreed in principle to lay down its arms.

Netanyahu's Cabinet rejection now throws those claims into question. "We are talking with the Americans about this issue," Netanyahu said, acknowledging that some elements of the proposal are acceptable to Israel, but refusing to specify which ones. He added that Israel "knows how to stand up to these things" — language that signals defiance without fully closing the door to further negotiation. The stakes extend well beyond a ceasefire timetable.

Netanyahu also declared that there would be no Palestinian state in either Gaza or the West Bank for as long as he leads Israel — a position that puts him at odds not only with Hamas but with the broader international framework for a two-state solution. Meanwhile, Israeli military strikes have continued inside Gaza since a ceasefire was agreed in October. Palestinian officials report that approximately 1,200 people — the majority of them women and children — have been killed in those strikes since the ceasefire took effect.