The Israeli premier also reiterated his opposition to establishing a "Palestinian state on any territory west of the Jordan River," rejecting the U.S.-backed statement calling for a "pathway" to Palestinian statehood.
(Nov. 16, 2025 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday emphasized his commitment to disarming the entire Gaza Strip as envisioned in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the coastal enclave.
“I want to address two specific issues,” Netanyahu said as he opened the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday. “The first issue is the supposed ‘non-demilitarization’ of the part of Gaza still in Hamas’s hands. There will be no such thing. Under the 20-point plan, and in everything else, that area will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed. Either this will happen the easy way or it will happen the hard way. I said this, and President Trump also said this,” the premier told journalists.
Netanyahu also reiterated his opposition to establishing a “Palestinian state on any territory west of the Jordan River,” rejecting Friday’s U.S.-backed statement calling for a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood. “I have been pushing back against these attempts for decades, doing so against external pressure as well as internal pressure. So I don’t need encouragement, tweets or lectures from anyone,” Netanyahu added.