Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Jared Kushner that Israel would not withdraw any of its forces in Gaza or allow reconstruction to begin until the complete disarmament of Hamas, according to a senior Israeli official.

The two also agreed that an American general would oversee the decommissioning of Hamas weaponry, the official said, which would be the first step in the demilitarization of the shattered enclave.

Hamas has refused to disarm unless it is sequenced with an end to near-daily Israeli attacks on Gaza and the beginning of a withdrawal of Israeli forces currently occupying more than half of the territory.

Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair also took part in the meeting. According to an official readout from Netanyahu’s office, the group agreed to establish working groups on disarmament and on sanitation, clean water, and public health issues.

According to a separate Israeli source, Netanyahu said that making progress on the Trump administration’s latest 15-point ceasefire plan for Gaza - which Israel rejected - would be “problematic” because of the upcoming Israeli elections.

The source also told CNN that Netanyahu insisted Israel would not change its policies on the ongoing targeted killings of Hamas commanders.