Benjamin Netanyahu says troops "are not withdrawing" from Gaza positions until Hamas is disarmed

The Times of Israel reported that, in an Aug. 4 Facebook video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s troops would not pull back from their present Gaza positions until Hamas’s arsenal is eliminated. He said the Trump administration believes Hamas can be stripped of its weapons and the Gaza Strip demilitarized, and that Israel is reviewing that idea. Netanyahu said U.S. officials provided a draft proposal, that Israel did not accept that text, and that Israel sent its own written responses before the matter drew news coverage. His comments publicly frame Israel’s stance in ongoing exchanges with the U.S. over the future of Hamas’s arsenal.