Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly privately agreed to test Trump’s Gaza plan despite public rejection.By World Israel News StaffPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately told US envoy Jared Kushner that he would give President Donald Trump’s new Gaza disarmament plan a chance, according to a report published on Sunday, even as the Israeli leader publicly declared hours earlier that his government rejected the proposal.The disclosure suggests a significant gap between Netanyahu’s public rhetoric and Israel’s actions on the ground as the Trump administration presses ahead with an effort to disarm Hamas, reduce Israeli military operations and begin a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.According to the report by Axios, Netanyahu spoke with Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key administration envoy, last week and expressed skepticism that Hamas would actually surrender its weapons.Nevertheless, Netanyahu reportedly agreed to allow the US-backed process to proceed and committed to restraining Israeli attacks in Gaza and keeping IDF forces from advancing beyond the Yellow Line.The White House is therefore not alarmed by Netanyahu’s much harder public position, according to a senior US official cited in the report.“We understand his political needs,” the official said, adding that Washington was satisfied “as long as he continues to do what we ask.”The remarks came after Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday that Israel was rejecting the 15-point roadmap produced by Trump’s Board of Peace, specifically objecting to provisions tying Hamas’s gradual disarmament to phased Israeli withdrawals from Gaza.“Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said, insisting that the IDF “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”Netanyahu stressed that disarmament must encompass Hamas’s entire arsenal, including both heavy and lighter weapons.His position would effectively require Hamas to give up its military capabilities before Israel begins further territorial withdrawals, rather than carrying out the two processes in parallel.That sequencing dispute has emerged as one of the principal obstacles to implementing the Gaza plan.The Board of Peace roadmap released July 30 calls for Hamas and other armed factions to relinquish control over both Gaza’s government and its weapons.It establishes the principle of “One Authority, One Law, One Weapon,” with the Palestinian technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza ultimately becoming the only body permitted to control arms in the territory.Heavy weapons, weapons-production facilities, depots and tunnels are to be decommissioned and stored under a process overseen by the Palestinian administration and verified by an International Verification Committee, with assistance from an International Stabilization Force.Crucially, however, the roadmap directly links that process to Israeli withdrawals.Rather than requiring Israel to leave Gaza before Hamas disarms, or requiring Hamas to surrender every weapon before Israel moves, it envisions a step-by-step arrangement under which verified demilitarization allows Israeli forces to withdraw progressively from individual areas.Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov told Israel’s Channel 12 Sunday that the withdrawal would take place “sector by sector” once weapons in those areas had been collected and rendered unusable.The roadmap explicitly states that progress is not automatic or based on predetermined dates. Each new phase is contingent on outside verification that the obligations attached to the previous stage have been completed.The latest report indicates that Netanyahu, despite publicly objecting to that formula, has for now agreed not to prevent Washington from attempting to implement it.Israel has sharply curtailed military operations in Gaza since Mladenov met Netanyahu last Monday.Reuters reported that Israel agreed to limit IDF action to what it considers immediate threats and to halt the targeted killings that had been occurring on an almost daily basis.The US has also been closely monitoring Israeli troop positions, according to the Axios report. Washington believes Netanyahu has so far kept the commitments he made to Kushner, with Israeli forces moving back toward the Yellow Line and strikes largely halted.That, in turn, is allowing Washington and mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to turn up pressure on Hamas.Trump announced on July 30 that the Board of Peace had reached what he described as an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.The official roadmap calls for Hamas to surrender political and security control to the Palestinian technocratic administration while ultimately eliminating its independent military structure.Hamas has avoided describing its commitment as “disarmament,” instead saying it agreed to place weapons under the control of the new Palestinian administration. The group has also argued that implementation depends on Israel fulfilling its own obligations, including halting attacks and withdrawing its forces.Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters Sunday that Hamas remained committed to the roadmap, while accusing Netanyahu of risking the agreement for domestic political reasons.The dispute comes as Netanyahu heads toward Israel’s October 27 election and faces pressure from right-wing coalition allies who fiercely oppose further withdrawals from Gaza.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed Netanyahu’s public rejection Sunday, saying Israel had entered the war to destroy Hamas and arguing that the military should not withdraw further.The post Netanyahu privately agreed to partial Gaza withdrawal despite public defiance- report appeared first on World Israel News.