No Palestinian state, Netanyahu says, as Gaza demilitarisation takes centre stage

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sharply rejected renewed international discussion of Palestinian statehood.

He used the opening of Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting to insist that his government’s long-standing opposition remains unchanged and to push back against criticism from within his own coalition.

“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. “Gaza will be demilitarized, and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way. I do not need affirmations, tweets, or lectures from anyone.”

He said recent comments suggesting that parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas may not be fully demilitarised were baseless. “There will be no such thing,” Netanyahu said. “Even in the 20-point plan, and in everything else, this territory will be demilitarised, and Hamas will be disarmed. Either this will happen the easy way or it will happen the hard way. This is what I said, and this is what President Trump also said.”

Netanyahu also reiterated his position on Palestinian statehood amid reports that Washington’s draft UN Security Council resolution on Gaza’s postwar governance includes the possibility of “a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” if the Palestinian Authority carries out reforms and reconstruction advances. The proposed resolution would authorise an international force in Gaza with a mandate lasting through the end of 2027 and extendable beyond that.

Diplomats say key language in the document is still under negotiation.

Netanyahu said his stance had not shifted in decades.

“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory west of the Jordan [River]—this opposition is existing, valid, and has not changed one bit,” he said. “I have been rebuffing these attempts for decades, and I am doing it both against pressures from outside and against pressures from within.”

Other senior members of the government also voiced objections to the emerging American proposal. Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the revisions under discussion were unacceptable. “Israel will not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel, at a negligible distance from all its population centers and with topographical control over them,” Sa’ar said.

Defence Minister Israel Katz echoed that argument on social media earlier in the day.

“Israel’s policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established,” Katz tweeted, stressing that Israeli forces would maintain control of strategic areas and that Gaza “will be de-fortified down to the last tunnel,” with Hamas ultimately disarmed either by Israel or by any international force approved to operate in the territory.

Around 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. The bodies of two Israelis and one Thai national are still held in Gaza.