Netanyahu Declares Gaza War Will End Only After Hamas is Disarmed

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the devastating war in Gaza will only truly conclude after the successful completion of a second phase of the current truce, one that is centered on the complete disarmament of Hamas.

In a definitive statement that reframes the fragile peace, Netanyahu has laid out a clear and formidable condition for the end of hostilities, linking a permanent cessation to the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

This stark declaration comes at a moment of extreme peril for the week-old ceasefire, which is already buckling under the immense pressure of deadly on-the-ground incidents, a bitter dispute over the return of hostage remains, and a new, urgent warning from the United States that it has "credible reports" Hamas is planning an imminent attack against Palestinian civilians, a move Washington has vowed would be a "grave violation" of the truce.

"When that is successfully completed -- hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way -- then the war will end."

Speaking on the right-wing Channel 14 on Saturday, Prime Minister Netanyahu provided his most explicit vision for the conflict's endgame, tying it directly to the far more complex and contentious second stage of the peace deal brokered last week. "Phase B also involves the disarming of Hamas -- or more precisely, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, following the stripping of Hamas of its weapons," Netanyahu stated.

"When that is successfully completed -- hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way -- then the war will end." His words transform the current pause in fighting from a potential off-ramp to the conflict into a mere prelude to a final and potentially more challenging confrontation over the very existence of Hamas as an armed force.

The precariousness of this moment was dramatically amplified by a stern warning issued by the U.S. State Department on Saturday. Citing "credible reports," Washington announced that the Palestinian armed group was planning an imminent attack against civilians within Gaza.

"This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts," the State Department declared in a statement reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The U.S. put the guarantors of the peace deal—a group that includes the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey—on notice of the "imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas" and warned that unspecified "measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire" should the attack proceed.

This warning followed an even more direct and personal threat from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has invested significant political capital in the deal. Reacting to a brutal internal crackdown by Hamas, Trump posted on his Truth Social network, "If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them," leaving ambiguous who the "we" in his threat referred to.

The crackdown in question saw Hamas tighten its grip on Gaza's ruined cities since the partial Israeli withdrawal, launching a campaign against alleged collaborators and rivals. This culminated in the public street execution of eight blindfolded and kneeling suspects, whom Hamas branded "collaborators and outlaws" in a video published on its official channel, as reported by AFP.

This high-level diplomatic alarm has been tragically mirrored by deadly friction on the ground, where a deep and pervasive lack of trust between Israeli forces and Palestinian factions is testing the ceasefire's limits daily.

The most devastating of these incidents occurred on Friday when Israeli forces fired on a vehicle in northern Gaza, killing at least nine people, including four children, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense emergency service.

A resident of Gaza City, Mohammad Abu Shaban, told The New York Times that his sister, her husband, and three of their children were among the dead, and that he had identified their bodies at a hospital.

He said the family, which included a dozen members of the same extended family, had left the crowded tent camp where they were staying for a picnic and likely got lost, inadvertently crossing into a dangerous area. "It seems the driver got mixed up in the roads and crossed the line. There aren’t any warning signs," Abu Shaban said.

The Israeli military, in a statement reported by both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, confirmed it had fired on what it described as a "suspicious vehicle" after it crossed an agreed-upon demarcation line—the "Yellow Line"—and ignored warning shots.

The military stated it opened fire "to remove the threat" but did not respond to queries about the civilian deaths. The incident highlighted the lethal confusion surrounding the new lines of control. Israel still controls approximately 53 percent of the enclave, but many Gazans, often lacking internet access or puzzling over unclear maps in a devastated landscape, have been unsure of where they can safely travel.

In response to a similar shooting on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that physical markers would be placed on the ground to identify the yellow line, which would "warn Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents that any violation and attempt to cross the line will be met with fire," The New York Times reported.

This was just one of several clashes straining the truce. The Israeli military also reported two separate incidents on Friday in the southern Gaza Strip, according to The Wall Street Journal. In Khan Younis, Israeli troops fired at militants who were spotted exiting a tunnel shaft about a mile inside the Israeli-controlled side of the yellow line.

In a second incident in Rafah, the military said it returned fire after militants fired on its troops operating in the area. While such incidents are not yet expected to collapse the deal, they underscore the profound challenges of implementing a ceasefire on a battlefield with no trust.

Adding another layer of intense pressure to the deal is the fraught and emotional process of implementing the first phase, which involves the release of living hostages and the return of the remains of those who are dead.

Israeli officials have accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the handover of the remaining 18 bodies of hostages still in Gaza, according to The Wall Street Journal. The failure to promptly return the bodies sparked an uproar in Israel.

While both sides had expected difficulties in locating all 28 bodies, Hamas initially returned only four. Under intense pressure, the group has now returned a total of ten. On Saturday, the Israeli government confirmed that Hamas had handed over the body of Eliyahu Margalit, 75, who was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

In response to the delays, Israel has slowed the pace of humanitarian aid entering the enclave and has kept the crucial Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed, a crossing that has been sealed since a previous ceasefire collapsed in March.

Hamas has countered that it has delivered all the remains in its possession and that finding the others requires more time and heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, which are not currently permitted into the enclave. An international task force, including Israel and mediating countries, has now been formed to search for the bodies.

As these immediate crises play out, technical talks have reportedly begun over the second stage of the agreement, according to Arab officials cited by The Wall Street Journal. This is where Netanyahu's conditions will face their ultimate test.

The issues on the table—the governance of postwar Gaza, the disarming of Hamas, and the establishment of security arrangements under an Arab-led force—are so thorny that mediators deliberately set them aside during the initial negotiations.

Hamas's recent actions, from its violent internal crackdown to its alleged planning of new attacks, suggest it has no intention of ceding control or disarming voluntarily. This places the movement on a direct collision course with Netanyahu's declared prerequisite for ending the war, creating a seemingly insurmountable gap between the current fragile truce and any vision of a lasting peace.

The war may have paused, but its fundamental conflict over power, security, and the future of Gaza has only just begun to enter its most challenging and uncertain phase.