In a way, the Gaza plan is proceeding as if it is real. In recent days, the US has announced nominations and appointments to a “Board of Peace” and a technocratic government, and uber-envoy Steve Witkoff has heralded the beginning of “Phase II” of the 20-point plan that ended the war. At the same time, there is widespread skepticism that Hamas will ever disarm, even though disarmament is the plan’s central condition. This cognitive dissonance leaves Hamas room to believe it can preserve power through ambiguity. That must end.
Hamas’s strategy is transparent. It hopes to replicate Hezbollah’s model in Lebanon: allowing a nominal civilian government to manage daily life while retaining real authority through weapons. This would freeze the Gaza process entirely: No serious reconstruction funding would flow, and Palestinians now trapped in ruined interior zones and tent cities would remain there indefinitely. Hamas may understand this and simply not care. Palestinians themselves must understand it – with laser focus.
Nothing prevents the international community from clarifying the choice immediately.
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