Israeli forces and the Shin Bet are conducting an average of two to three targeted operations a day against Hamas operatives and commanders in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, American officials are preparing to map sites where the group’s fighters would surrender their weapons. The two tracks—daily violence and diplomatic planning—run side by side. They aren’t converging.
US officials and representatives of the Board of Peace are preparing a field survey and mapping operation inside Gaza to identify locations suitable for weapons surrender under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, Walla learned on Tuesday. The aim is to speed up a process linking disarmament to reconstruction.
A Widening Gap
Israeli defense officials say they’re confused by the American approach. Security officials familiar with the regional process described an enormous gap between Hamas’s conduct and Washington’s hopes of advancing reconstruction in exchange for the surrender of weapons. They said some of what Washington wants to accelerate appears to run counter to developments on the ground.
Hamas’s original demands, as described in the report, offered something narrower than full disarmament: the organization would hand its weapons to a third party, which would safeguard them inside the Gaza Strip, subject to commitments on reconstruction and an Israeli withdrawal. Israeli officials aren’t buying even that. “If two months ago Hamas was still trying to create a false impression that it was willing to disarm, now it is not even doing that, and it is investing its efforts in preparing for a return to fighting,” one security official stressed.
Escalation Over Reconstruction
Military officials told Walla that Gaza is currently closer to escalation than to reconstruction or a negotiated arrangement. They pointed to attempts by Hamas’s military wing to rebuild its capabilities and strengthen its forces, ongoing training exercises, and efforts to provoke confrontations with IDF troops along the Yellow Line. Intelligence warnings also point to planned terrorist attacks, including concern about attempts to strike in the period leading up to Israel’s elections to influence the results.
The targeted operations hit a mix of people. Some targets had taken part in the October 7 attacks, according to the report. Others are organizing attacks now or trying to cross the Yellow Line. The report doesn’t say whether these daily operations have caused civilian casualties. It also offers no account of conditions for Gaza’s residents, who live amid this stalemate.
The Reconstruction Condition
Israel’s position, according to assessments in Jerusalem, is firm. Security officials maintain that Israel will oppose any reconstruction measures unless Hamas is disarmed in practice and Gaza is demilitarized, including through the removal of terrorist infrastructure, weapons, and terrorists.
That condition creates a difficult sequence. Washington wants reconstruction to proceed in exchange for weapons. Jerusalem wants disarmament first. Hamas, according to the Israeli assessment, is preparing for renewed fighting rather than surrender. Gaza’s civilians are waiting on the outcome of all three positions, and their rebuilding depends on an agreement that none of the parties appears close to reaching.
Why This Matters: Reconstruction in Gaza is the only realistic route out of the humanitarian emergency, and it’s now hostage to a disarmament dispute with no visible resolution. If Israeli officials are right that Hamas is preparing for another round of fighting, civilians will again bear the cost, as they have before. If the American plan advances without Israeli buy-in, it risks collapsing on contact with reality. Either way, the longer rebuilding is deferred, the deeper the despair that feeds militancy, and the harder any political settlement becomes. That’s a perspective on the stakes, not a prediction, but the report’s own facts show a diplomatic track and a security track pulling in opposite directions while ordinary Gazans wait.