Netanyahu says no Israeli withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas has been
completely disarmed
[August 05, 2026]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY, IBRAHIM HAZBOUN and MELANIE
LIDMAN
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza
until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal
announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu's remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which
was seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. It also marked
a rare public display of friction with the Trump administration.
The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt
its strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60% of Gaza it
currently controls. It was based on an October ceasefire agreement that
ended major military operations and brought about the release of the
remaining hostages held in Gaza but has stalled on other fronts.
Netanyahu, who faces a tough battle for reelection in October,
reiterated his stance that disarmament should come first. He said
Israeli forces would continue to “do whatever is necessary to protect
themselves, our territory, and our citizens.”
The Trump administration “sent us a draft. We did not agree. It is not
our draft. We sent our comments. … This is our position,” Netanyahu said
in a video posted on social media.
Mass funeral held for dozens killed in 2023 strike
Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinians gathered for a mass funeral of more
than 100 bodies finally recovered from a deadly Israeli strike in Gaza
in 2023. More than 300 people were killed on Nov. 22, 2023, weeks into
the war with Hamas, when warplanes flattened a residential block in Gaza
City’s Sabra neighborhood.
Around 40 bodies were recovered soon afterward in a frantic scramble of
rough tools and bare hands, but most were buried deep beneath the
rubble. Reports of the high number of victims in one of the war's
deadliest attacks took days to reach the public in the chaos just before
its first ceasefire.
Over the weekend, first responders dug through the destroyed buildings
and recovered remains of 112 victims, including 40 children, according
to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run
Interior Ministry.
It said 157 bodies still have not been found.
“The only crime of these martyrs was that they remained steadfast and
resilient in their homes, believing that these homes would protect
them,” one relative, Taysir al-Hassayna, told The Associated Press
following the funeral prayers.
For the missing, it's “as if their bodies had evaporated without a
trace.”
The current ceasefire has allowed recovery of remains
Only now are some bodies of people killed in the war's ferocious early
months slowly being recovered, as the fragile ceasefire allows such
efforts to push ahead in parts of devastated Gaza.
Those discoveries have contributed to the war's rising toll. The
Hamas-led militant attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed
around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory
offensive has killed more than 73,377 Palestinians, including since the
ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
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Palestinians carry the flag-draped bodies of members of the Hassayna
and Abu Sharia families, who were killed in an Israeli strike in
2023 and whose remains were recently recovered from the rubble,
during their funeral in Gaza City, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad
Alshrafi)
At least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives to still be
under the rubble, Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry's records
department, told the AP. The true number is likely thousands higher
because in some cases entire families were killed in a single
bombing, leaving no one to report the missing, al-Waheidi has said.
The people mourned on Tuesday were from a residential block
belonging to the Hassayna and Abu Sharia clan, and many were
related. AP has identified at least 60 families across Gaza who lost
25 or more family members during the first three months of war.
On Tuesday, the remains of the victims, wrapped in Palestinian
flags, were laid in rows on the ground. Many were marked with
photos, and flower petals were scattered around them all. Hundreds
of people surrounded the bodies for funeral prayers, some standing
on the rubble.
Following the prayers, people carried the bodies on stretchers along
a narrow street lined by destroyed buildings and buried them in a
nearby cemetery.
Deadly strikes continue and rebuilding is on hold
At least 1,252 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire
took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed
casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N.
agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of
civilians and militants but says women and children make up most of
the dead.
Israel says its strikes are against militants who endanger its
soldiers, took part in the Oct. 7 attack or carry out other
violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the
ceasefire.
The U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement last October called for Hamas to
be disarmed and for Israel to withdraw. An International
Stabilization Force was to be deployed, and an independent
Palestinian administration was to oversee governance and
reconstruction.
Israel says everything hinges on Hamas giving up its weapons, while
Hamas says Israel must end its strikes and begin withdrawing from
the territory. Each side accuses the other of violating the truce.
Gaza remains largely shattered. Most of its 2 million Palestinians
are displaced, many living in tent camps where poor conditions and
overcrowding have led to rodent infestations and outbreaks of
infectious diseases such as chickenpox.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed
to this report.
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