Israel says it has serious concerns with Hamas disarmament deal
[August 03, 2026]
By SAM MEDNICK
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel has shared “serious security concerns”
with the White House regarding the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas,
an Israeli official said as Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday
evening killed at least 17 people, including children, in Gaza.
The remarks by Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's office, were some of the first public comments
since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the agreement.
Spielman told The Associated Press that Israel's intelligence assessment
is that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than
genuinely demilitarizing. He said the Israeli military would not
withdraw from Gaza — where it controls more than 60% of the territory —
before Hamas disarms.
“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, referring to
the Hamas militant attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in
the Gaza Strip.
“Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,”
Spielman said.
His comments come days after Hamas said that it would begin disarming as
part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed nine months ago to end the
nearly three-year-long conflict. It marks a potential breakthrough in
ending the conflict, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines
remain.
Hamas says it's agreed to disarm but the process has obstacles
Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender
its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions
Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic
Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force
and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.
Hamas disarming has been a sticking point and has deadlocked
negotiations for months. In announcing the deal on social media on
Thursday, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured
phases.”
A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by the AP said that all
weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the
U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National
Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the
enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on
other steps.
A process to decommission and store heavy weapons and to dismantle
military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of
the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces.
The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to
the agreement.
The areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and
depopulated. Most of the territory’s 2 million Palestinians are in the
other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and
destroyed neighborhoods.
Israel appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other
concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu faces a tough reelection battle, with his far-right coalition
partners urging him to keep up the pressure on Hamas and leave forces in
Gaza, and opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023,
attack.
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Palestinians gather around a car struck in an Israeli military
strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities then, killing
around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others
hostage. Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that
has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health
Ministry.
The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run
government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable
by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not
distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and
children make up around half of all fatalities.
Israel warns that Hamas is rearming
While Spielman said Israel greatly appreciates Trump’s commitment to
its security and to finding a durable resolution, the government's
position on disarmament is based on detailed intelligence saying
that Hamas continues to rearm, recruit fighters, and rebuild its
military capabilities.
The White House did not provide additional comments on Sunday, when
asked specifically about Israel’s assessment that Hamas remains
committed to rebuilding its military.
U.S. officials, who briefed reporters on the disarmament agreement
last week, said that Israel had been consulted at every step of the
negotiations and was not being asked to do anything more than what
it had committed to as part of the ceasefire and hostage release
agreement signed last October.
It's unclear what exactly Israel conveyed to the White House. Two
people with knowledge of the deal told the AP that Israel had
communicated its issues with it to former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, who's part of the Trump-led Board of Peace. One of them
said that among the points Israel wanted was freedom to conduct
military operations in Gaza. They spoke anonymously because they
were not authorized to speak to the media.
According to another person familiar with the deal, the Israelis
raised two other issues: that Qatar and Turkey not be involved in
verifying the stages of the agreement, and that Hamas’ weapons be
destroyed after confiscation. The person spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel continues to strike Gaza
Since the ceasefire was signed last October, Israel has continued
striking Gaza, saying it’s targeting Hamas and its infrastructure.
Local Gaza hospitals said at least 17 were killed in the latest
Israeli strikes, including children. A strike on a residential
apartment in southern Gaza killed three family members, including
their 4-year-old child, according to Nasser hospital, where the
bodies arrived.
The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted militant
operatives.
___
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to
this report.
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