Netanyahu Calls to End US Aid Dependence, Demands Hamas Disarmament
By Palestine Chronicle Staff
In an interview with the Economist, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel should gradually end its dependence on US military aid, even as he ties Gaza’s future to Hamas disarmament and continues to block ceasefire progress.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that his strategy for the besieged territory is centered on disarming Hamas and fully demilitarizing Gaza, even as Israeli violations of the ceasefire continue and the humanitarian toll mounts.
In an interview with the British weekly The Economist, Netanyahu said the sequence of his Gaza policy—backed by US President Donald Trump—begins with disarmament, followed by reconstruction, and then what he described as the removal of “extremism” from the Strip.
Netanyahu’s remarks coincided with renewed US pressure on Hamas. Deputy State Department spokesperson Mignon Houston told Al-Jazeera that Hamas must adhere to the ceasefire agreement and give up its weapons in order for talks to proceed toward the second phase of the Gaza deal.
At the same time, Palestinian sources told Al-Jazeera that Hamas has formally informed ceasefire guarantors of its “strong protest” over Israel’s continued violations of the agreement.
The sources warned that Israeli assassinations carried out under false pretenses threaten to collapse the deal altogether.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reporting has underscored the lack of political will in Tel Aviv to move forward.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted security sources as saying that the Israeli political leadership has yet to order preparations for withdrawal from Gaza positions or for implementation of the second phase of the agreement.
Army officials, according to the report, believe the next phase should not begin before the return of the body of the last Israeli captive.
On the ground, Israeli occupation forces have continued to deepen their presence, pushing the so-called yellow line further into the Sheja’iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City, amid ongoing air raids targeting homes, tents sheltering displaced families, and schools used as shelters.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Friday that the death toll from Israel’s genocide since October 7, 2023, has risen to 71,409 killed and 171,304 wounded.
Hospitals received 14 killed and 17 wounded over the past 24 hours alone, following Israeli strikes a day earlier that, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, killed 13 Palestinians, including two brothers.
These attacks were described by Palestinian officials as part of Israel’s ongoing violations of the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, 2025.
Israel’s Relationship with Washington
Alongside his Gaza strategy, Netanyahu used the same Economist interview to signal a longer-term shift in Israel’s military relationship with Washington.
He said he intends for Israel to “taper off” Israeli dependence on American military aid in the next ten years, citing what he described as Israel’s growing economic strength and advanced military capabilities.
Israel currently receives about $3.8 billion annually in US military assistance under a 2016 agreement that runs through 2028—roughly 15 percent of its defense budget—along with additional emergency aid, particularly for air defense systems such as Iron Dome.
Netanyahu said that he “very deeply” appreciates “the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities”.
Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, Washington has provided more than $125 billion in military assistance, according to the US State Department.
‘Civilizational Struggle’
In the same interview, Benjamin Netanyahu framed Israel’s war on Gaza as a civilizational struggle, arguing that Western audiences fundamentally “misunderstand the nature of the struggle Israel is waging.”
Claiming to speak on behalf of “the forces of civilization” and “modernity,” Netanyahu invoked unsubstantiated imagery, asserting that “very fanatic forces…want to take us back to the early Middle Ages,” and alleging that “Islamists” commit acts of almost mythical savagery.
On this basis, he insisted that “Israel is defending itself, but in so doing, we’re defending Western civilization.”
The argument seeks to recast the devastating genocidal military campaign against a besieged civilian population as a moral service to the West.
Meanwhile, despite the ongoing war and his legal troubles—including being the first Israeli prime minister to face corruption charges while in office, which he denies—Netanyahu confirmed that he plans to run for another term in elections due by late October 2026.
(PC, AJA, The Economist)