Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned a visiting delegation of United Nations ambassadors on Sunday evening that Iran continues to pose a serious danger to the Middle East, and said the disarmament of Hamas will determine whether a new governing arrangement in Gaza can succeed.

Source: Matzav

“The issue of Iran is looming over us, threatening the entire region,” Herzog told the ambassadors at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, in a meeting organised by Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon. The diplomats were briefed on Israel's security concerns and diplomatic challenges, and Herzog also stressed the importance of maintaining channels of communication with Lebanon and Syria amid continuing regional tensions.

First entry into Gaza: a tunnel and Kfar Aza

Earlier on Sunday, the same delegation entered the Gaza Strip for the first time, according to Channel 14, touring one of Hamas's tunnels inside the territory. The visit began at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where the ambassadors were shown the destruction from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, and continued into Gaza accompanied by Danon and the Commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaniv Asor, who gave a security briefing on the ground, the tunnel infrastructure and the challenges facing Israel.

Source: Channel 14 (C14)

Danon said the tour was meant to show the ambassadors the reality directly rather than through debate at UN headquarters. “We brought the UN ambassadors into the terror tunnels so they could see the truth with their own eyes,” he said during the visit. “Our message is clear: as long as Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, there will be no reconstruction. Hamas continues to arm itself and work toward restoring its terrorist capabilities.” After the meeting with Herzog, Danon added: “We brought the ambassadors to Jerusalem so they could see the reality on the ground firsthand, a reality that is too often distorted in the halls of the United Nations.”

Resolution 2803 and the disarmament test

Herzog discussed the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted in November 2025, which established an international framework for Gaza's postwar administration, including a Palestinian technocratic governing committee and an international stabilisation force, and calls for the dismantling of armed groups' infrastructure and the permanent decommissioning of their weapons. He characterised Hamas's disarmament as “the real test for everything.”

“Once Hamas is disarmed, the technocratic government will go in, and there will be a brand new chapter in the history of the people of Gaza, including on the humanitarian issues,” Herzog said.

The delegation visit was announced by Danon on November 10 as a journey beginning in Poland, where millions of Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, before travelling to Israel for security briefings and visits to its northern and southern borders; reporting at the time put the delegation at approximately 40 diplomats. Sunday's Gaza entry and the evening meeting with the president were the Israel leg's centrepieces.

What happens next

No timetable for Hamas's disarmament, the entry of the technocratic committee or the deployment of the stabilisation force was announced on Sunday. Herzog's framing sets the sequence Israel is pressing on the diplomats who will debate Gaza at the United Nations: disarmament first, then the new administration and reconstruction. Whether Hamas accepts any decommissioning, and on what terms, remains the open question the ambassadors took home.