The ceasefire declared by Israel in Gaza has ended, with Tel Aviv resuming military operations, first in the form of airstrikes and then by expanding ground operations. Israel Defense Forces have retaken control of parts of the Netzarim corridor between north and south Gaza, and has advanced into areas in south Gaza, while Hamas has restarted firing rockets at Tel Aviv. Israel has been able to eliminate a senior Hamas official, Ismail Barhoum. According to Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, Barhoum was Hamas’ new prime minister, “who replaced Issam Da’alis, the previous prime minister who was eliminated a few days ago.” With Barhoum’s death, Hamas has lost 11 of the 20 members of its political bureau. These developments have to be seen in the context of the Hamas not being ready to release the 59 hostages it still has in its custody. In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas released 33 hostages, while Israel released nearly 2,000 prisoners, many of whom Hamas terrorists. Out of these 33, eight were returned dead, while Hamas put up a macabre show, treating the hostages in an uncivilized manner, even as cheering civilians raised anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans. Hamas has been seeking the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza as well as the control of the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt, something, if done, would have again allowed the free flow of arms and ammunition to the Hamas. But the ceasefire agreement never entered the second stage as the Hamas never released the remaining hostages, many of whom are Israeli soldiers and reservists which the terrorist group captured on October 7 2023. Hamas wants a better deal for them, including the release of hard-core terrorists who would pose a major security threat to Israel. Hamas also wanted a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which actually was scheduled to take place in the second phase. But the second phase never commenced as the ceasefire fell through, as did hopes of the reconstruction of Gaza, both of which were supposed to be a part of the third phase of the ceasefire. The peace talks in Doha also failed and the war restarted.

In the interim period, there was no let-up in the lone wolf terror attacks or attempted attacks, targeting civilians. Israel also had enough intelligence inputs to believe that the Hamas was using the ceasefire to regroup and re-energise itself. That Israel was suspecting another October 7 like attack on Israeli civilians settled along the Gaza border became evident when it asked civilians in the area to exercise caution.
One of the reasons that the region is getting sucked into a prolonged war is because of Hamas’ unwillingness to let go of its control on Gaza. To a large extent, October 7, 2023 was the means directed towards this end, where Hamas wanted a complete hold on the Palestinian mind and eventual control over West Bank, elbowing out the Palestinian Authority. In fact, they succeeded in convincing the Palestinians that October 7 was a great victory against the Israeli state and a step towards erasing Israel from the face of the earth and establishing an independent Palestinian state—the reason why Hamas is wildly popular among the Palestinians in both Gaza and West Bank. It is a classic case of brainwashing and radicalization at a mass level. That this has happened in Gaza became evident on October 7 2023, when along with the Hamas terrorists, a large section of the civilian population of Gaza either participated in the blood-curdling terrorist attacks, or cheered the Hamas actions, or both. The problem is, the Gazans are seemingly oblivious of the reality that they have lost their homes, their families and friends because of Hamas, which, by normalizing the worst kind of barbarity, has brought the war upon them. It is also because of this that the proposed two-state solution to solve the Palestinian problem will never work. Hamas has had complete control over Gaza since 2026—almost 20 years, during which aid worth billions of dollars have flown into this strip of land. Gaza under Hamas had complete autonomy. Hamas could have changed the face of Gaza with that kind of money in these two decades, but instead built tunnels and rockets and churned out terrorists by luring them with the vain promise of destroying Israel. Of course a part of that money turned the Hamas leadership into billionaires as well.

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And now US President Donald Trump wants to push through his plan to send the Palestinians to countries ready to accept them—their number is not that large, only 2.1 million, or 21 lakh—and develop Gaza as prime real estate. However outlandish this may seem, but it may actually be a better solution than the much touted two-state solution. For unless there is a change in the mindset, an independent Palestine cannot co-exist with Israel.