Report: Hamas using ceasefire to expand arsenal, despite Trump’s demand it disarm

Israel’s military establishment concerned that Hamas may not only be flouting US demands to disarm but also expanding its arsenal, using undetonated ordinance to build bombs, rockets and even missiles, while also smuggling weapons in from abroad.

By World Israel News Staff

Hamas is actively working to rebuild and expand its arsenal during the ongoing ceasefire with Israel, according to IDF intelligence estimates, despite demands by the Trump administration that it disarm.

According to a report by Galei Tzahal radio on Monday, Israel’s security establishment has monitored efforts by the terror group to reconstitute its arsenal following two years of war with Israel.

Israeli intelligence, the report said, has identified three separate channels Hamas is using in its rearmament program.

IDF officials warned that Hamas is attempting to use humanitarian transfers to Gaza to smuggle weapons into the coastal enclave, one of three channels Hamas is pursuing for its rearmament efforts.

While Israel has not found evidence that weapons have been successfully smuggled into Gaza in this manner yet, security officials say they are aware that Hamas is working with Iran and Iran-linked groups to use aid transfers to bolster the terror group’s arsenal.

A second smuggling route identified by the security forces cited in Monday’s report is drone-based cross-border transfers from the Sinai Peninsula into Gaza.

In recent months, Israel has monitored a significant rise in smuggling activities across its own border with the Sinai, with a growing quantity of weapons being shipped to Bedouin organized crime syndicates in the Negev Desert.

Currently, the bulk of the drone smuggling efforts from the Sinai into Gaza’s Khan Yunis region have involved drug shipments, though the IDF fears these existing smuggling routes could be increasingly used to transfer weapons.

However, the most significant channel identified by Israeli security officials is the expansion of local weapons manufacturing activities.

These operations have shifted since the start of the war to smaller-scale makeshift weapons labs, after larger facilities were systematically targeted and destroyed by Israel’s air force.

Nevertheless, Hamas is actively engaged in rebuilding its weapons manufacturing capacity, with a particular focus on explosive devices and projectiles.

The terror group is reportedly using undetonated ordnance dropped by Israeli warplanes to manufacture not only improvised explosive devices but also rockets and even anti-tank missiles.

gaza stripHamasweapons smuggling