Israel raises 'serious security concerns' over Hamas disarmament deal

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel has shared "serious security concerns" with the United States regarding the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said as Israeli strikes over the weekend killed at least 17 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 Hamas militant attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Spielman's 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.

The 20-point ceasefire plan calls on Hamas 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 disarmament 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 National Committee for the Administration of Gaza upon its arrival in the enclave. It is unclear when that would happen, since it depends 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.

On Saturday, a delegation from the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, or Fatah, headed to Cairo, while Hamas affirmed its commitment to participating in the legislative elections scheduled for November as part of the broadest possible national coalition.

AGENCIES-XINHUA