Netanyahu rejects US 15-point peace plan for Gaza

Israel has rejected the 15-point peace roadmap for Gaza proposed by US President Donald Trump's Peace Council, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, stressing that the Israeli military will not withdraw from Palestinian territory until Hamas is fully disarmed.

The same day, Hamas reaffirmed its commitment to the roadmap, demanding guarantees for a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction.

Peace Council envoy Nickolay Mladenov told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview that any Israeli withdrawal would take place in phases from areas declared free of weapons, with international forces taking over areas Israel leaves, and that eventual disarmament would extend to all armed groups in Gaza, not just Hamas.

Gaza: Public rejection, possible tacit agreement

Israel's rejection of the plan still comes amid noticeable changes on the ground. The number of Palestinians reported killed in Gaza has dropped sharply, from 47 in the period July 27 to August 3—including the days immediately after Trump announced the initial disarmament deal—to eight in the following week through August 10, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel's Army Radio reported that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have secretly approved recovery work to rebuild basic infrastructure in eastern Rafah, allowing Palestinian workers into the site after screening by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

However, the project is part of the temporary housing initiative "Green Rafah." Experts fear that this is not genuine humanitarian aid, but that construction will further entrench Israel's military presence inside Gaza and increase fragmentation. Israel is said to have withheld the caravans needed to house residents until after October elections, despite the October 2025 "ceasefire" deal.

Media quoted US officials saying the Israeli military has not received orders to freeze preparations for the second phase of the deal, with the first base for the International Stabilization Force planned to begin construction in Rafah at the end of August. Netanyahu faces pressure from US allies to move to phase two, while also facing pressure from far-right political allies demanding the seizure and even settlement of more areas of Gaza as elections approach.

Despite the reduction in attack intensity, violence continues in the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in Deir el-Balah on Saturday. At least five other Palestinians were injured in the territory, including tank fire on tents in Khan Younis and gunfire in al-Mawasi and Gaza City.

Since the October "ceasefire," at least 1,258 Palestinians have been killed and 4,139 wounded, while 807 bodies have been recovered from the rubble as of August 10. Since October 2023, when Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, 73,386 Palestinians have been killed and 174,250 wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Gaza also held one of the largest mass funerals of the war for 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, killed in an airstrike in November 2023. Their remains were only discovered last week. Over 150 people from similar attacks remain missing. On Saturday, rescue teams found 19 more bodies, mostly women and children, from a collapsed building after four days of manual digging, as Israel continues to block heavy machinery from entering Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 8,000 people remain missing under the rubble across the strip. Satellite assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shows 82% of all structures in Gaza—over 201,000 buildings—damaged or destroyed as of mid-June.

West Bank: Refugee camp under siege

Amid a series of raids across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces launched a major multi-day operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp and the adjacent Kafr Aqab area, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

According to local reports, soldiers demolished a car wash, severely beat a journalist, and drove a military vehicle over a young man. By mid-week, they had seized community and municipal offices, forced a family from their home, and blocked dawn prayers.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Society said over 60 residents, including women and children, were detained and interrogated in homes turned into forward bases. The organization said a total of over 25,600 Palestinians have been arrested across the West Bank since October 2023.

By Friday night, when the military withdrew from the Qalandiya area, Palestinian officials reported 51 injured, mostly from severe beatings. Additionally, a 14-year-old was shot in the back in Jenin, according to Wafa news agency.

An Israeli military investigation into last month's settler attacks in Tal, which killed four Palestinians and two Israelis, has undermined justifications for raids across the occupied West Bank. Israeli investigators found that the settlers' walk prior to the incident was never authorized, too few soldiers responded to the clashes, and they could not rule out that one of the Israelis killed was shot by Israeli troops, The Times of Israel reported.

Thirteen new illegal settlement outposts have sprung up near Tal since then, while political leadership has prevented the military from dismantling them.

New illegal outposts are also spreading elsewhere. In Qusra, south of Nablus, settlers from the Jabal Ein Eina outpost—which has been a base for attacks on Qusra in recent months, sometimes deadly—have pitched tents right in front of a Palestinian family's home on the edge of town, effectively trapping the family inside.

These tactics mirror what happened to the Tubassi family in Jalud a few weeks ago, when they were forced to leave after a two-week siege backed by Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, Israeli ministers and lawmakers laid the cornerstone for a new illegal settlement named Emek Dotan, near Arrabeh, Jenin, in a ceremony attended by 22 settler families, according to Wafa.

In addition, Israeli NGO Ir Amim reported Monday that the Israeli government has recently advanced three more settlement plans in occupied East Jerusalem: about 650 housing units at the main entrance of the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Tuba; about 450 housing units between the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Lison; and an additional 2,300 housing units to expand the illegal Gilo settlement, which would further cut off occupied East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recorded 2,256 attacks against Palestinians and their property in July alone—1,458 by Israeli forces and 798 by settlers. Ramallah, el-Bireh, Nablus, and Jenin were the hardest hit.

The rare exception in the week to near-total impunity for settler violence came Thursday, when prosecutors indicted settler Yinon Levi for the murder of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen last year. It is the first indictment in the West Bank in over seven years, with over 93% of investigations into settler attacks closed without charges.

A day after the indictment, settlers disrupted a wedding in Umm Al-Khair, which residents described to Al Jazeera as an act of revenge.