The deadly war in Gaza is reportedly ready to resume, as progress on President Trump’s peace deal between Israel and Hamas stalls.
The Israeli military has drawn up plans for a new ground operation inside Gaza, the Wall Street Journal first reported, citing people briefed on the matter.
The renewed intensive military operation is planned for March, according to the Times of Israel, and would target Gaza City with the goal of expanding the Israeli Defense Force’s control of the territory.
Meanwhile, rather than disarm, Hamas has been rebuilding military capabilities, Israeli and Arab officials said.
The terror group has been refilling its war chest — with access to cash that had been hidden in underground tunnels during the war, and from taxing goods and services in Gaza.
It’s also reportedly received money from Iran, according to the officials.
With the influx of cash, it’s been able to pay its fighters and step up recruitment in an effort to appoint new terrorists to replace the commanders killed during the two-year long deadly war with Israel, according to the outlet.
Since the cease-fire was enacted in October, Hamas has cracked down on rivals as it moved to cement its hold over Gaza, leading to violent clashes in the war-torn enclave.
The Board of Peace that will oversee the second phase of the tenuous peace deal — and which President Trump is reportedly set to announce its 15 world leaders who will sit on it next week — will be tasked with determining how Hamas’ disarmament is carried out and what it entails, including whether that will require small arms.
The terror group is reportedly willing to relinquish the remainder of its heavy weapons but refuses to surrender its small arms, Arab officials said.
“They’ve made an agreement that they’re going to disarm,” Trump said Friday on Fox News. “We’re going to have to assume that they’re going to, but you know it’s not their nature to disarm.”
Trump previously said Hamas would be given “a very short period of time” to surrender their weapons or “there will be hell to pay.” But the president also said he is not willing to put phase two on hold — which calls for the creation of a so-called International Stabilization Force to police Gaza — while waiting for that to happen.
Former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov was named by Trump earlier this week to lead the Board of Peace.
Mladenov already met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Thursday, and Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank Friday.
Israel’s planned offensive won’t be able to go forward without the support of the US, which is still hoping to move the cease-fire plan forward, according to the Arab diplomat who spoke to the Times of Israel.
Netanyahu reportedly does not believe the international body led by Trump to oversee Gaza will be successful in disarming Hamas, which is why he ordered the IDF to prepare a “contingency plan.”
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