The message Hamas is sending remains as defiant as ever. Hamas does not take Trump’s plan seriously.
Nearly three years after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel, and more than six months after US President Donald Trump announced his ceasefire initiative for the Gaza Strip, one reality remains painfully clear: Hamas is still armed, still in control of large parts of the Gaza Strip, and still openly refusing to surrender its weapons.
This week, mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey gathered in Cairo with Hamas leaders and representatives of several Palestinian factions in yet another attempt to persuade the Iran-backed Islamist group to comply with Trump’s peace plan, which calls for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the decommissioning of weapons held by Hamas and other armed groups.
That Hamas is still negotiating the issue of disarmament nearly three years after October 7 is in itself a damning indictment of the international approach toward the terrorist group.