(MENAFN- Live Mint) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there'll no Palestinian state and that Hamas will be disarmed - by force, if necessary - as the US seeks UN Security Council approval for a Gaza plan that anticipates Palestinian statehood.

“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed,” Netanyahu said at his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.“Gaza will be demilitarized, and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way.”

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Netanyahu was responding to criticism from within his ruling coalition on the US resolution. The final text hasn't been made public but on Friday the US, joined by eight Arab and Muslim governments, issued a statement backing the resolution, saying it“offers a pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

His comments also came as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed al Salman prepares to visit Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, his first trip to the White House in seven years.

Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire five weeks ago after two years of war. US President Donald Trump sponsored the truce that began by Hamas freeing Israeli hostages and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners. While the bodies of three hostages remain to be sent back, attention is turning to the next, more difficult, phase, which is to remove Hamas from power in Gaza and rebuild the devastated coastal strip.

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In the Washington Post on Friday, Michael Waltz, US ambassador to the UN, wrote that the next step is to establish a multinational stabilization force“with a mandate to demilitarize Gaza, dismantle terrorist infrastructure, decommission weapons used by terrorists, and maintain the safety of the Palestinian people over a two-year term.”

The UN Security Council on Monday is due to debate the US resolution that lays out those provisions. Russia has put forward a competing resolution. Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Saturday, with no details made public.

While both Trump's ceasefire and the UN resolution refer to a multinational peacekeeping effort, it's unclear who'll join or what their roles will be. A number of countries appear willing to provide troops in principle, but don't want to be responsible for stripping weapons from uncooperative militiamen.

A group of countries, led by the US, has set up a headquarters in southern Israel to handle the rebuilding, disarming and ramping up of aid for Gaza. They're now awaiting instructions on how to proceed. Meanwhile, Israel still occupies half of Gaza. In the other half, where the vast majority of inhabitants live in dire conditions, Hamas is underlining its authority with armed militants.

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Bin Salman is due to meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday, with the future of Gaza and relations with Israel expected to be high on the agenda. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it can only normalize relations with Israel once there's agreement on a Palestinian state.

In his comments Sunday, Netanyahu also made reference to the fact that Israel must hold elections within a year. There have been calls for an early vote, but Netanyahu suggested otherwise, saying he assumed the vote would be held toward the end of the Jewish year, meaning September.

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