Israel voices concern over Hamas disarmament deal

TEL AVIV/GAZA — 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 18 people, including children, in Gaza.

The remarks by Doron Spielman, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, were some of the first public comments since US 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 percent 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 militant attack on Israel in 2023 that set off the latest conflict in the Gaza Strip.

His comments come days after Hamas said it would begin disarming as part of the US-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.

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.

The disarming of Hamas 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 all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave.

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.

Since the ceasefire was signed last October, Israel has continued its strikes in Gaza, saying it's targeting Hamas and its infrastructure.

Strikes continue

Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for the second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 18 Palestinians, medics said. The strikes have continued despite announcements of progress in efforts to implement a ceasefire agreement.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that Israeli drones and helicopters had carried out more than 10 airstrikes since the early hours of the morning in various parts of the enclave.

The strikes targeted residential apartments, tents sheltering displaced people, civilian vehicles, and Palestinian gatherings from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of at least 18 people, including four children and two women, said Basal.

In a news statement, Hamas called on the mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire agreement to assume their responsibilities, condemn these "Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people", and to take immediate action to pressure Israel to cease its aggression in accordance with the agreement.

AGENCIES-XINHUA