Israel did not agree to US-backed Gaza plan: Netanyahu

JERUSALEM, Aug 5: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel did not agree to the US-backed plan for Gaza, even after receiving assurances that an Israeli pullout would only happen after Hamas disarms.

In a video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday night, Netanyahu said the team of US President Donald Trump "believes that they can bring about the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza".

"We are checking this. They sent us a draft -- we did not agree to it, it is not our draft. We sent our comments," he said.

Netanyahu met with the US-backed Board of Peace on Monday and received guarantees that the Israeli army would only be required to leave its current positions in Gaza after Hamas disarms.

But pressure has been growing on the premier from the right flank of his ruling coalition to reject the deal.
Two far-right ministers requested a new vote on the plan Tuesday, saying it does not reflect what had originally been discussed.

Israel's security cabinet, in which the two ministers sit, already voted in favour of the proposal, which would see among other things the deployment of international peacekeeping troops in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu had moved to convene his security cabinet on Tuesday but the meeting was postponed to Thursday, Israeli media reported, amid primary voting in his Likud Party ahead of October 27 elections, in which he faces a tight race.

The request from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlement Minister Orit Strook to hold a new vote should be viewed merely "as a campaign move" to put pressure on Netanyahu, according to Tal Elovits, a researcher at Israeli think tank Molad.�"AFP