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Ceasefires and the Illusion of Peace: The Resurgence of Hamas in Gaza (2024–Early 2026)

  • Mar 24
  • 7 min read

When a school or hospital is struck in a foreign war, the death of even one child raises an empathic reaction of horror amongst Western sensibilities. We are against the war, usually without a full understanding of its cause, and want an immediate ceasefire to “just stop the killing.”

 

Trump said these very words to stop the Israel-Hamas war and to get the hostages back. In August 2024, during his campaign, he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "get your victory quickly because the killing has to stop" (The Times of Israel, 2024).

 

Later, at a meeting with European leaders in July 2025, Trump stated, “We want to stop the killing, get this settled," referencing both the war in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. After campaigning for this goal, Trump successfully orchestrated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.


Perhaps surprisingly to Western eyes, Hamas was in favor. Israel—between a rock and a hard place—was glad to get their hostages back but not happy to leave Hamas in power.

 

Westerners predictably in favor of ceasefires—anything to stop the bloodshed. This perspective is distinctly Western, rooted in a belief that dialogue and compromise are paths to resolution. In the West, we tend to believe that peace must occur at all costs.

 

History has proven that ceasefires do indeed stop the killing, but only temporarily.

 

As we all know, Hamas. Is an Islamist Arab terrorist organization, which confronts its enemies with violence. They do not regularly seek negotiation or dialogue first. Upon examination, their published charter explicitly prohibits negotiation or surrender and, furthermore, prohibits recognizing Israel as a legitimate state.

 

Hamas Article 19 states, “The Balfour Declaration and the establishment of Israel is a crime against the Palestinians,” while Article 13 declares, “There is no solution to the Palestinian question except through Jihad.”

 

Here, Jihad refers to a struggle or fight against the perceived enemies of Islam. Article 31 further emphasizes that “there is no peace with the Jews.” Additionally, Hamas asserts in Article 11, “The land of Palestine has been granted to Muslims by Allah. It is a sacred duty to defend it against any attempt to take control over it.”

This militant mindset contrasts sharply with Western values. We Westerners can’t believe that any organization—terrorist or other—will systematically use violence first to get results. We can’t comprehend that anyone—much less terrorists—maintain no intention to compromise.

 

So, why do terrorists welcome ceasefires? We Westerners insist they can’t mean what they are saying; we hope the ceasefire lasts forever.

It doesn’t.

 

During my solidarity visit to Israel in February 2024, in the midst of the October 7 war, I had the opportunity to meet Einat Wilf, an Israeli politician and author who met with our group and insisted that we in the West need to “believe what they [Hamas] say;” She insists that their words reflect their true intentions.


Einat Wilf was born in Jerusalem and raised in a Labor Zionist family. She studied at the Hebrew University High School in Jerusalem. She completed her military service as an intelligence officer in Unit 8200[4] with the rank of Lieutenant.[5] She then went to Harvard University, receiving a BA in government and fine arts, before earning an MBA from INSEAD in France, and subsequently a PhD in political science at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

Wilf admitted she used to be a peace activist supporting the "land for peace" approach with Palestinians, which emerged after the 1967 Six-Day War. This strategy argued that Israel could achieve peace with its Arab neighbors by giving back land it had defeated and occupied in 1967, in exchange for security. The idea was that giving Gaza to the Palestinians would lead to lasting peace.

 

With Hamas's widely advertised goal of destroying Israel, this view changed for Wilf. She talks about “westplaining,” where Westerners explain away the repeated intentions of Middle Eastern Arabs against Israel. Western denial becomes incredulity. We Westerners refuse to believe that terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS mean what they say, that they are dedicated to destroying Jews, Israelis, Americans, and Western civilization.

 

Wilf has come to believe that unless the West acknowledge the Islamic ideologies driving terror activities, true peace is impossible. In her words, “Without addressing the ideological roots of the conflict, we are merely postponing the inevitable.” What is the inevitable? War, of course.

 

Terrorist ideology presents an impenetrable barrier to achieving real peace. Real peace will only come when terrorists are defeated or when their ideology changes to accept Israel’s legitimacy and to display a willingness to live next to Israel as neighbors. Imagine that simple remedy!

 

How effective are ceasefires to date? Starting with the ceasefire to the 1948 Arab war against Israel, and the 1967 war, the 1973 war, and all skirmishes in between—no matter the ceasefire—the conflicts have not stopped. Einet Wilf rightly concludes: “Israel is never allowed to win, and Palestinians are never allowed to lose.” The war goes on due with ever-changing armistice lines.

 

And now, it’s happening again. Trump’s ceasefire in Gaza has not yet enforced its 20-point plan, which includes disarming Hamas and removing them from power.

 

Unfortunately, the opposite has happened. Hamas has rebuilt its forces to maintain a fighting strength of 20,000 to 30,000 fighters, newly recruiting between 10,000 to 15,000 youth, including untrained 16 and 17-year-olds, to replace losses since October 7, 2023. The group has now shifted to guerrilla tactics, producing its own weapons, using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and staging ambushes. 

 

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's leader-in-exile, has stated that the group continues manufacturing ammunition and weapons for attacks on Israeli troops. They are now unmasked and controlling areas where Israeli forces have left. 

 

They are controlling prices of goods, which includes taxing the humanitarian aid for its own pockets. As of February 2026, 14 of its 17 ministries are active again. This represents a major recovery in operational capacity, when there were only five ministries functioning at the height of the war.

 

Hamas continues to prevent Palestinians from dissent by hunting down collaborators and then beating and executing them in public. Hamas reiterated once again its refusal to surrender weapons—part of the ceasefire deal—claiming they are an integral part of their identity and that they must have these armaments to govern Gaza. 


Conclusion:

 

Understanding the fundamental differences in mindsets between the West and the Middle East is a must in order to grasp the reality that Israel faces with regard to any possibilities for peace with the Palestinians. Their Islamic ideology does not allow that resolve.

 

History has shown that ceasefires can be mere façades, giving militant groups like Hamas opportunities to regroup and rearm—ultimately leading to escalated violence and more loss of life, as tragically witnessed on October 7, 2023. Had the international community taken Hamas at its word and recognized the deeply rooted hatred for Jews, Israel, and the West in its charter, perhaps Israel and the world would have refused to allow a strategy of containment in Gaza. Perhaps Israel would not have believed and implemented the “land for peace,” approach to Gaza.

 

Even today, the reluctance of the global community to support a decisive victory for Israel in Gaza only reinforces Hamas’s goals of survival and resilience. The group continues to grow in strength and legitimacy among its supporters, asserting a posture of defiance against any peace efforts and a willingness to strike again when the opportunity arises.

 

And it will.


A purely Western agenda to “just stop the killing,” when we are incensed by innocent deaths, does not end a war or achieve peace. Just the opposite. It gives a refreshing moment of no killing, while it has only brokered a future that includes even more killing.

 

Looking ahead, the implications of the ongoing conflict against Israel extend beyond Iran’s proxies to Iran itself. Their words were clearly articulated in 1979 when Islamist revolutionaries took over Iran and renamed the territory the Islamic Republic of Iran, chanting: “Death to Israel. Death to America.” The threat of a nuclear-capable Iran, coupled with its support for proxy groups who also want to destroy Israel and the West, is real.

 

Perhaps we Westerners should consider Einat Wilf's words: “believe what they say,” instead of “westplaining” it away by seeking containment and ceasefire as goals—to “just stop the killing.” 


Notes:

 

October 7, 2023, the world witnessed the savage slaughter of 1,200 Israelis and others by Hamas. The massacre was the result of containment. Was this on Trump’s mind as he decided if a ceasefire meant containment in the Islamic Iranian mindset?

 

On March 20, 2026, on the lawn of the White House, Trump stated:

 

 “We could have dialogue, but I don't want to do a ceasefire. . . You know you don't do a ceasefire when you're literally obliterating the other side."

 

 



CITATIONS


 Campaign Statements (2024)

  • Trump, Donald J. "Press Conference at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster." New Jersey, August 15, 2024. Quoted in The Times of Israel, August 15, 2024, www.timesofisrael.com.

Presidential Peace Initiatives & Governance (2025–2026)

Hamas Ideology & Charter

Einat Wilf & "Westplaining"

  • Wilf, Einat and Adi Schwartz. The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace. St. Martin's Press, 2020.

  • Wilf, Einat. "The Danger of 'Westplaining' the Middle East." Tablet Magazine, or referenced in The Times of Israel, www.timesofisrael.com.

 

 

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