Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledges difficulty of forming an international coalition to disarm Hamas
The Israeli prime minister paves the way for a new military operation in the Gaza Strip to disarm the Palestinian movement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is difficult to form an international coalition to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip, thereby paving the way for the possibility of launching a new military operation to achieve this objective.
The Israeli channel i24NEWS reported on Sunday that Netanyahu told members of the security cabinet (the cabinet) that U.S. President Donald Trump failed to rally an international coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz, reflecting the difficulty of forming a similar coalition to disarm Hamas.
He added that the U.S. president “realizes that Hamas will not hand over its weapons,” noting that the idea of creating an international coalition to dismantle the Palestinian movement’s arsenal is “less realistic,” meaning that Israel “will have to do it itself,” in reference to possible military options.
Disarming Hamas is one of the points of Trump’s plan announced on September 29 to end the war in the Gaza Strip. The plan also includes the release of Israeli hostages, a ceasefire, Israel’s withdrawal from the territory, the formation of a technocratic government, the deployment of an international stabilization force, and the start of reconstruction operations.
Netanyahu’s statements come as the deadline set for Hamas’s disarmament approaches, amid Israeli assessments that a decisive outcome on this issue is imminent. Launching a new Israeli offensive in areas under Hamas control in the enclave could result in large numbers of casualties and injuries.
On February 16, the Israeli government, through its secretary Yossi Fuchs, announced that it would grant Hamas a 60-day deadline to disarm, threatening to resume the war if it failed to comply. At the time, the Israeli official did not specify when the deadline would begin.
He clarified that the deadline includes the requirement for the movement to relinquish all its weapons, including individual firearms, adding that if this is not carried out, “the army will have to complete the mission,” referring to the resumption of the war.
Starting on October 8, 2023, Israel launched, with U.S. support, a war against the Gaza Strip that lasted two years, resulting in the deaths of more than 72,000 Palestinians and over 172,000 wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to destruction affecting nearly 90% of civilian infrastructure.
A ceasefire agreement came into effect in October 2025. However, Israel continued carrying out bombardment and demolition operations in various areas of the enclave, in repeated violations of the agreement.
