Israel Concerned With Hamas Deal       08/03 06:05

   Israel has shared "serious security concerns" with the White House regarding 
the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said as Israeli 
strikes overnight and into Sunday evening killed at least 17 people, including 
children, in Gaza.

   TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- Israel has shared "serious security concerns" with 
the White House regarding the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli 
official said as Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday evening killed at 
least 17 people, including children, in Gaza.

   The remarks by Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu's office, were some of the first public comments since U.S. 
President Donald Trump announced the agreement.

   Spielman told The Associated Press that Israel's intelligence assessment is 
that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely 
demilitarizing. He said the Israeli military would not withdraw from Gaza -- 
where it controls more than 60% of the territory -- before Hamas disarms.

   "Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it 
will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist 
infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry out 
another Oct. 7-style attack," he said, referring to the Hamas militant attack 
on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

   "Disarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less," Spielman 
said.

   His comments come days after Hamas said that it would begin disarming as 
part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed nine months ago to end the nearly 
three-year-long conflict. It marks a potential breakthrough in ending the 
conflict, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remain.

   Hamas says it's agreed to disarm but the process has obstacles

   Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its 
weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli 
forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian 
government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of 
the battered Palestinian enclave.

   Hamas disarming has been a sticking point and has deadlocked negotiations 
for months. In announcing the deal on social media on Thursday, Trump said it 
would be carried out in "carefully structured phases."

   A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by the AP said that all 
weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed 
Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the 
Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It's not clear when 
that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.

   A process to decommission and store heavy weapons and to dismantle military 
production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian 
committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be 
linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.

   The areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and 
depopulated. Most of the territory's 2 million Palestinians are in the other 
part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed 
neighborhoods.

   Israel appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other 
concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
faces a tough reelection battle, with his far-right coalition partners urging 
him to keep up the pressure on Hamas and leave forces in Gaza, and opponents 
accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

   Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities then, killing around 1,200 
people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with 
a punishing military offensive that has killed more than 73,000 people, 
according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

   The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, 
maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and 
international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and 
militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

   Israel warns that Hamas is rearming

   While Spielman said Israel greatly appreciates Trump's commitment to its 
security and to finding a durable resolution, the government's position on 
disarmament is based on detailed intelligence saying that Hamas continues to 
rearm, recruit fighters, and rebuild its military capabilities.

   The White House did not provide additional comments on Sunday, when asked 
specifically about Israel's assessment that Hamas remains committed to 
rebuilding its military.

   U.S. officials, who briefed reporters on the disarmament agreement last 
week, said that Israel had been consulted at every step of the negotiations and 
was not being asked to do anything more than what it had committed to as part 
of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement signed last October.

   It's unclear what exactly Israel conveyed to the White House. Two people 
with knowledge of the deal told the AP that Israel had communicated its issues 
with it to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who's part of the 
Trump-led Board of Peace. One of them said that among the points Israel wanted 
was freedom to conduct military operations in Gaza. They spoke anonymously 
because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

   According to another person familiar with the deal, the Israelis raised two 
other issues: that Qatar and Turkey not be involved in verifying the stages of 
the agreement, and that Hamas' weapons be destroyed after confiscation. The 
person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to 
speak to the media.

   Israel continues to strike Gaza

   Since the ceasefire was signed last October, Israel has continued striking 
Gaza, saying it's targeting Hamas and its infrastructure.

   Local Gaza hospitals said at least 17 were killed in the latest Israeli 
strikes, including children. A strike on a residential apartment in southern 
Gaza killed three family members, including their 4-year-old child, according 
to Nasser hospital, where the bodies arrived.

   The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted militant operatives.