Officials warn Hamas emboldened by phase 2 of Gaza plan, aims for ‘Hezbollah model’ — report

Senior officials in Israel’s defense establishment have warned the political leadership in recent days that Hamas has been emboldened under US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, Channel 12 reports.

In recent discussions with the country’s political echelon, the defense officials shared assessments that aspects of the second phase of Trump’s plan — specifically the inclusion of Turkish and Qatari representatives in the executive committee that will take part in managing Gaza under Trump’s Board of Peace — offers an opportunity for “long-term hope and short-term boldness” to the terror group and could gradually undermine what the IDF achieved over two years of war in Gaza, according to the report.

In the short term, the officials say the terrorist organization is seeking to rebuild itself and planning attacks against IDF soldiers deployed in Gaza. In the long term, officials sat Hamas has no intention of relinquishing its weapons and is hoping to replicate the “Hezbollah model,” a reference to the Lebanese terror group on Israel’s northern border, which Israel says is attempting to rebuild following a November 2024 ceasefire.

The officials say Hamas “will do everything it can to drag out the process and exhaust all parties, while reconstruction on the ground begins in practice.”

These views are also shared by senior political officials, the report adds, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself is believed to have objected to the makeup of the executive committee due to Trump’s decision to involve Qatar and Turkey – which have close ties to Hamas and are fiercely critical of Israel.