Hamas Emerges as Major Roadblock to Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan

 

 

Map of Gaza as of 10 October 2025

  Gaza Strip under Palestinian control

  Gaza Strip under Israeli control

  Furthest Israeli advance in the Gaza Strip

  Evacuated areas inside Israel

 

As President Donald Trump touts his new Gaza plan, the biggest obstacle may not be Israel — but Hamas. Despite being forced to cede much of Gaza under the deal, the militant group remains entrenched in the remaining territory and continues to terrorize Palestinians who challenge its rule.

 

Reports from within Hamas-controlled areas describe executions and mass arrests of suspected dissidents, revealing the group’s ruthless grip on power. While Trump’s deal effectively splits Gaza in two — with Israel controlling the southern half and Hamas the north — the plan demands that Hamas fully disarm and relinquish authority, conditions it has historically refused to meet.

 

Trump has warned that if Hamas continues killing in Gaza, “We will have no choice but to go in and kill them.” The statement underscores his administration’s intent to enforce the peace terms militarily if necessary. Yet analysts warn that dismantling Hamas’s political and security structure — built over two decades of authoritarian rule — will be vastly more difficult than defeating it militarily.

 

For Israel, the arrangement satisfies a core objective: preventing Hamas from reconstituting near its borders. But for Palestinians, it raises new questions about governance and sovereignty in a divided Gaza. Hamas’s origins as a militant Islamist movement and its violent rise since its 2006 election win continue to shape regional instability.

 

Nearly two decades after the Bush administration’s failed hope that democratic elections would moderate Hamas, the group still poses the single greatest challenge to any sustainable peace. Trump’s plan may redraw Gaza’s borders — but not its most dangerous reality.

 

Key Takeaways:

• Hamas remains the central threat to Trump’s Gaza plan despite territorial losses.

• Reports of executions and repression show its enduring control in northern Gaza.

• Disarming Hamas politically and militarily could prove impossible without force.

 

Source: CNN

 

 

Israel has no reason to be unnecessarily opposing it. However, to think that Hamas, a psychotic organisation, would agree is a pipe dream.