Hamas Reasserts Control Over Gaza With a Wave of Retribution Killings.
Recent Developments in Gaza Could Spell Doom for Trump's Peace Plan.
Palestinians returning to their homes after Ceasefire went into effect, on October 10, 2025
Photo Credit: Doaa Albaz/Anadolu via Getty Images
Hamas is now carrying out a series of retribution killings as they reassert control over areas of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops have withdrawn. This is pretty indicative of the challenge which are faced by the Trump Administration as they attempt to have the terrorist group disarm, as part of the Presidents 20-point plan for peace.
Since the Gaza ceasefire went into effect last Friday, more than 33 people have been brutally and very publicly killed execution style. This includes at least seven male individuals who were dragged into Gaza City on Monday.
According to reporting from Reuters, the seven men were were forced onto their knees, as their hands were bound, and as they were shot from behind in view of dozens of people who cheered the executions, on camera.
A Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ghaith al-Omari, who is also a former Palestinian negotiator, told The Hill that Hamas has a head start on reasserting control in Gaza, in the absence of an international security force and an apolitical governing body.
“The longer the time passes, and the more that they [Hamas] establish themselves on the ground now in the security sphere, we’ll soon start seeing them also doing in the civilian sphere – they will start removing rubble and building a couple of schools, offering health care, all that kind of stuff – the harder it becomes to kind of dislodge them,” al-Omari said.
President Trump said yesterday, from the White House, that if Hamas refused to disarm, that “we will disarm them.” Trump's 20-point peace plan stipulates that if Hamas refuses to surrender and disarm completely, that Israel can restart military operations in Gaza. The deal permits Israel to hand over control of an area to an International Security Force (ISF) after clearing it of Hamas control. However, such ISF forces are still in the planning stage, and at the moment do not exist.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” the President said. He also added that he gave Hamas a deadline of a “reasonable amount of time.”