Netanyahu reiterated his intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations Security Council vote.<\/b>
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials reiterated their intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations Security Council vote to authorize the U.S. plan for post-war Gaza on Monday.
There are three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.
The ceasefire is broadly holding in Gaza, with Israeli forces inside the strip having pulled back to the so-called „yellow line.“ Elsewhere, Israel is continuing strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces is also continuing raids in parts of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu told the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, last week that the war „has not ended.“
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office published a statement on Tuesday congratulating President Donald Trump after the United Nations Security Council authorized the U.S.-led plan for post-war Gaza.
„We believe that this plan will lead to peace and prosperity, as it includes full demobilization, disarmament and a process to deradicalize Gaza“, Netanyahu said in the statement.
„In cooperation with the United States and other countries supporting the plan, Israel looks forward to the return of all the bodies of the abductees. Without delay“, he said. There are believed to still be three deceased hostages inside Gaza.
„We will also begin the process of demilitarizing and disarming the Gaza Strip and ending Hamas rule“, Netanyahu said.
„Israel extends its hand of peace and prosperity to all its neighbors, and calls on them to normalize relations and join the movement to remove Hamas and its supporters from the region“, the prime minister added.
Netanyahu’s statement did not mention the plan’s reference to potential future Palestinian statehood — a proposal the prime minister and other Israeli officials have criticized and repeatedly said they will block, including in the days leading up to Monday’s vote.
President Donald Trump celebrated the U.N. vote approving the U.S. plan for an international stabilization force in Gaza in a post to social media on Monday night.
„Congratulations to the World on the incredible Vote of the United Nations Security Council, just moments ago, acknowledging and endorsing the BOARD OF PEACE, which will be chaired by me, and include the most powerful and respected Leaders throughout the World“, the president wrote.
„This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the United Nations, will lead to further Peace all over the World, and is a moment of true Historic proportion!“, Trump said.
Trump thanked the countries that backed the vote and worked with the U.S. to secure the peace deal. Trump added that „members of the Board, and many more exciting announcements, will be made in the coming weeks.“
The U.S.-led plan for Gaza authorized by the U.N. Security Council on Monday „does not meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights“, Hamas said in a statement published online on Monday.
Hamas said it rejects the plan for an „international guardianship mechanism“ to oversee the strip, alleging that the blueprint „imposes a mechanism to achieve the occupation’s objectives“ and „detaches the Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian geography.“
Hamas also insisted that it would not disarm, saying the issue cannot be separated from „a political path that ensures the end of the occupation, the establishment of the state and self-determination.“
Involving any future international force in attempts to disarm Hamas „strips it of its neutrality and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation“, the group added.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry — which represents the Palestinian Authority government that exercises partial control over the West Bank — said in a statement on Tuesday that it is ready to work with the U.S. on the Gaza peace plan authorized by a United Nations Security Council vote on Monday.
The „state of Palestine welcomes the U.N. resolution on Gaza and affirms its readiness to support implementation and assume its full responsibilities“, the ministry said in a post to X.
The vote, the ministry wrote, affirmed „the establishment of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state.“
The statement urged the immediate implementation of the plan „in a manner that ensures the return of normal life, protects our people in the Gaza Strip, prevents displacement, secures the full withdrawal of the occupying forces, enables reconstruction, halts the undermining of the two-state solution and prevents annexation.“
Despite sustained Israeli opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state or the involvement of the PA in the future governance of Gaza, the ministry said it is ready to cooperate with the U.S., the European Union and regional Arab states to help implement the U.S.-backed resolution authorized on Monday.
The U.S.-led plan for Gaza also says that the PA must undergo significant reforms before it can be considered for any future role in Gaza.
The ministry said the plan should be implemented „in a way that ends the suffering of our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and advances the political path leading to peace, security, and stability between Palestinians and Israelis, based on the two-state solution grounded in international law and international legitimacy.“
„The state of Palestine renewed its affirmation of its readiness to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, within the framework of the unity of land, people, and institutions, considering the strip an integral part of the state of Palestine“, it added.<\/p>\n