Dec 24 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Wednesday of violating the Gaza ceasefire by refusing to disarm, and said Israel would retaliate after a military officer was wounded by what the military described as a bomb.
In a speech at a graduation ceremony for Air Force pilots, Netanyahu mentioned the attack in Rafah, part of Gaza where Israeli forces still operate, and said Hamas had made clear it had no plan to disarm as foreseen under the October truce deal.
“Israel will respond accordingly,” he said.
The Israeli military earlier said that an explosive device had detonated against a military vehicle in the Rafah area and that one officer had been lightly injured.
Hamas denied responsibility. The blast was “caused by bombs left behind by the enemy that had not exploded previously, and we have informed the mediators of this,” said Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi in an X post.
A 20-point plan issued by U.S. President Donald Trump in September calls for an initial truce followed by steps towards a wider peace. So far, only the first phase has taken effect, including a ceasefire, release of hostages and prisoners, and partial Israeli withdrawal.
Trump’s plan ultimately calls for Hamas to disarm and have no governing role in Gaza, and for Israel to pull out. Hamas has said it will hand over arms only once a Palestinian state is established, which Israel says it will never allow.
Violence has subsided but not stopped since the Gaza truce took effect on October 10, with the sides regularly accusing each other of violating the ceasefire. Gaza’s health ministry says Israel has killed more than 400 people in the territory since the ceasefire went into effect. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks.
Hamas “openly declares it has no intention of disarming, in complete contradiction to President Trump’s 20-point plan,” Netanyahu said.
He added that Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Israel severely weakened in strikes last year that also ended in a U.S.-brokered truce, also had no intention to disarm “and we are addressing that as well”. Israel still needs to settle accounts with Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen as well as Iran itself, he added.
“As these old threats change form, new threats arise morning and evening. We do not seek confrontations, but our eyes are open to every possible danger,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu is set to meet with Trump next week, mainly to discuss the next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elimam, Nayera Abdallah and Steven Scheer; Editing by Alexander Smith, Gareth Jones, Peter Graff)
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