Holed-up Hamas fighters test future of Trump’s Gaza peace plan

JERUSALEM – As many as 200 Hamas fighters holed up in an Israeli-held area of the Gaza Strip and defying calls to surrender are casting doubts on the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The almost

month-old ceasefire

has twice been shaken by air strikes launched by Israel in retaliation for ambushes against its troops around the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which it blamed on Hamas.

The Palestinian faction initially denied any of its gunmen remained behind a “yellow line” to which the Israeli army has redeployed as part of the deal, while Mr Trump said “rogue elements” may have been responsible.

Changing tack, Hamas on Nov 9 said Israel bore “full responsibility for the confrontation with our fighters in Rafah, who are defending themselves within an area under its control”.

It urged mediator countries trying to engineer a lasting peace to “find a solution to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire and prevent the enemy from using flimsy excuses to violate it”.

The Israeli army said dozens of gunmen remain in the Rafah area, where a network of Hamas tunnels still exists, out of an estimated several hundred hiding behind the yellow line.

On the other side, Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions have about 15,000 gunmen, according to army assessments.

Under the first phase of Mr Trump’s deal, Hamas was meant to have returned the last hostages it held in Gaza within 72 hours, while Israel vowed to ramp up the level of humanitarian aid supplies.

Neither condition has been fulfilled. Hamas still holds the remains of five hostages, and has handed over one body on Nov 9.

Bigger questions hang over the second phase, which requires Hamas to disarm and cede power to an interim administration of foreign-supervised Palestinian technocrats. Hamas has ruled that out, drawing threats from Israel to resume the Gaza offensive that has left tens of thousands dead in the coastal enclave.

The prospect of facing off with still gun-toting Palestinians could also spook the international peacekeeping force being planned for Gaza.

Both side dig in

Mr Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy, said the deal’s promise of amnesty for Hamas members who lay down their arms and commit to peaceful coexistence with Israel may now be applied in microcosm.

“We may see the model for what we’re trying to do here, or what we intend to do here, with these 200 fighters who are trapped in Rafah, and whether they’re going to be able to raise their hands, walk out, turn over their weapons,” Mr Witkoff told a conference in Florida last week.

Mr Witkoff and Mr Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, are scheduled to arrive in Israel for a visit on Nov 10, local media reported.

But the warring sides sounded unmoved.

Israel “must know that the concept of surrender and handing oneself over does not exist in the dictionary of the Al-Qassam Brigades”, Hamas said in its statement, referring to its armed wing.

Mr Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet, told Kan radio on Nov 9 that the Rafah gunmen “should either be eliminated or come out wearing only underpants and carrying a white flag”.

The US plan also

offers emigration

to members of a demilitarised Hamas. That has raised speculation in Israel that the gunmen could be given safe passage to the Hamas-controlled side of Gaza, perhaps in return for the expedited handover of hostage remains.

The body returned on Nov 9, of a soldier killed in Gaza in 2014, was located in Rafah, according to Hamas. BLOOMBERG