Israel Peace plan in Gaza stalled - Hamas disarmament as an obstacle
A ceasefire has officially been in place in the Gaza Strip for more than two months. But for the people in the devastated coastal strip, everyday life is far from normal. For example, 46-year-old Mahmud Abd al-Hadi and his family had to flee again and again during the two-year war. To this day, their everyday life is characterized by the struggle for supplies and the fear of a new outbreak of fighting between Islamist Hamas and Israel's army.
21.12.2025, 08:14
21.12.2025, 08:15
SDA
People are tired, says al-Hadi. "My children ask me when we will return home, when life will get back to normal. And I have no answers."
Clear majority of Palestinians against disarming Hamas
The upcoming second phase of US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan provides for the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF). However, the terrorist organization strictly refuses to lay down its weapons.
Opinions on disarming Hamas also differ among the population. While al-Hadi, a father of four, is in favor of Hamas laying down its weapons, 29-year-old Ahmed Nasser al-Attar clearly rejects this. "Anyone who talks about the end of Hamas or the reconstruction of Gaza is out of touch with reality," he says. The current ceasefire is not peace, "but only a temporary pause". Without a real peace settlement and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, the father of two is convinced that the conflict will continue. "My greatest fear is that my children will grow up in the same cycle as we did: War, fragile peace and then war again."
According to a survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Opinion Research in Ramallah, around 70 percent of Palestinians reject the disarmament of Hamas envisaged in Trump's peace plan. The rejection rate is particularly high in the West Bank at 80 percent, while it is 55 percent in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
And despite the catastrophic destruction and the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the coastal strip, more than half of Palestinians still support Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war, according to the survey.
Although the humanitarian situation in the blockaded area has improved somewhat since the ceasefire, the overall situation remains precarious. According to the latest figures from the UN emergency aid office Ocha, more than 80 percent of the buildings in the coastal strip on the Mediterranean have been destroyed or damaged. Many people who have lost their homes are still living in tent camps and are exposed to the winter weather.
Complete victory over Hamas an illusion
The "absolute victory" over Hamas promised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proven to be an illusion. The terrorist organization continues to hold power in the area under its control, also with the help of its brutal actions against internal opponents, although it is certainly weakened. However, Hamas has no problems recruiting new fighters - no doubt also in view of the anger of many people at Israel's harsh approach in the war.
After agreeing a ceasefire on October 10, Trump spoke of "peace in the Middle East" after two years of war. All that was agreed was a ceasefire - and even that remains fragile, with deadly incidents occurring time and again. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 400 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began. As in Lebanon, Israel continues to attack the coastal strip, which the army claims are terrorist targets. However, civilians are also being killed.
As part of the Gaza "peace plan", all remaining Hamas hostages were released and Israeli troops withdrew from parts of the Gaza Strip in return. The body of a hostage kidnapped on October 7, 2023 is still in the Gaza Strip - meaning that not all conditions of the first phase of the Trump plan have been met.
It is unclear how the next phase will be implemented. It is also unclear whether the situation can be stabilized in the long term.
According to US special envoy Steve Witkoff, however, progress is being made. After exploratory talks with representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, he wrote on X on Saturday that further talks should follow in the coming weeks "to advance the implementation of the second phase". And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be visiting the USA for a week from December 29, during which talks with Trump on how to proceed are also planned.
Gaza Strip de facto divided into two halves.
The plan, secured by a UN resolution, also calls for a further withdrawal of Israeli troops from the coastal strip. Palestinian political scientist Ghassan Chatib believes that the transition to the second phase would be "difficult to impossible". Neither Israel nor Hamas are really interested in fulfilling the conditions. It is in Israel's interest to retain control of half of the Gaza Strip and not to withdraw its troops any further.
"And Hamas is convinced that it is better to retain control of half of the Gaza Strip than to accept the option it would be offered in the second phase of the agreement," says Chatib. It is also difficult to find countries willing to take on military responsibility as part of the stabilization force.
So far, only Turkey has expressed a clear willingness, but Israel rejects this due to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strongly pro-Israel and pro-Hamas stance.
Disarming Hamas remains the biggest obstacle
Israeli political scientist Jonathan Rynhold emphasizes that without the disarmament of Hamas, there can be no serious progress in the efforts to bring lasting peace to the host Strip. "Nobody will disarm Hamas except the Israeli army, because none of the countries that have committed themselves to an international force or have considered doing so are prepared to do so," says Rynhold. Moreover, he sees "no chance" that Trump could send American ground troops to take this into his own hands.
"This remains the central obstacle, because without disarmament you would simply leave an organization in place that perpetrated (the massacre on) 7 October and, together with allies in the region, seeks the destruction of Israel," says the political scientist. Moreover, no one will invest large sums in the reconstruction of the largely destroyed coastal strip if it can be assumed that the conflict between Hamas and Israel will continue.
