Smotrich, Strock demand Netanyahu reject new BoP Gaza plan, say it contradicts US-Israel agreements

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Missions Minister Orit Strock wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday demanding an Israeli rejection of a new Board of Peace plan for Gaza, arguing that it contradicts understandings reached with the United States only a month earlier.

The letter follows the Board of Peace’s presentation last week of a six-month Gaza recovery framework: a $2.45 billion package of 66 costed programs covering shelter, debris clearance, water, hospitals, schools, energy, roads and jobs, to be advanced alongside deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) and what the board described as weapons decommissioning.

In the letter, the ministers said the official proposal now advanced by the Board of Peace is “completely contrary to the understandings that were reached between you and the US administration and the Board of Peace” after the publication of the 15-point roadmap, which Israel had already announced it would not accept.

Smotrich, Strock demand Gaza demilitarization come first

Those understandings, they wrote, were clear. Any reconstruction, any entry of foreign forces, including the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) and the ISF, and any IDF withdrawal “will not be carried out before the complete demilitarization of the entire Gaza Strip.”

The ministers said the latest statement by the heads of the BoP “is completely contrary to this understanding, which was reached less than a month ago.” In their view, the document is “an attempt to advance the 'roadmap’ again in contradiction to the understandings.”

They argued that Israel cannot remain silent. “Exactly as at the time of the publication of the ‘roadmap,’ these serious matters cannot be left without a formal and unequivocal Israeli clarification that completely rejects the ‘regional stages method.’”

Smotrich, Strock outline alleged contradictions to Israeli position

The letter then listed four additional contradictions with what they described as Israel’s agreed positions.

First, they said the statement ignores that Hamas is not disarming. “It continues to arm itself, grow stronger, train, and carry out attacks against us every day,” the two wrote. As a result, “there is no possibility of carrying out reconstruction projects in the immediate term.”

Second, they said the statement ignores a cabinet decision authorizing the entry of only 200 ISF soldiers, “not 500, and certainly not 5,000.” That decision, they added, was based on the force’s role as the implementer of demilitarization, not on the role assigned to it in the roadmap as “a supervisor of IDF activity.”

Third, they said the statement ignores the plan’s leading principle: that Gaza “must be completely demilitarized of weapons.” There is therefore “no place whatsoever for ‘acquisition of weapons’ for any forces that would be stationed there,” they wrote, “and certainly not as long as the law that will govern the strip is the antisemitic Palestinian Authority law, which determines that the murder of Jews is not an offense but a ‘commandment’ that has a reward.”

Fourth, they said the statement ignores Israel’s “basic and agreed right to prevent reconstruction that would create a threat to its residents.” It was “unthinkable,” they wrote, that the entire 365 square kilometers of Gaza would be rebuilt, because “even after full demilitarization of the strip, no reconstruction will be carried out in areas that threaten our communities.”

The ministers concluded the letter by telling Netanyahu they expect him “to clarify in an unequivocal manner that these parts of the statement by the heads of the BoP are not acceptable to Israel, and therefore will not be implemented."