Gaza ‘peace’ outlook darkens as Hamas tightens grip, executes ‘collaborators’

Hamas has swiftly reclaimed the streets of Gaza’s urban areas, following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops last week.

By Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Re-emergent Hamas terrorists demonstrated their grip by executing men in the street, darkening the outlook for US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.

Israeli officials said Israel had decided to restrict aid into the shattered Gaza Strip and delay plans to open the border crossing to Egypt at least through Wednesday, because Hamas had been too slow to turn over bodies of dead hostages.

As of today, 8 bodies have been returned to Israel, but one has not been identified as an Israeli captive.

Meanwhile, Hamas has swiftly reclaimed the streets of Gaza’s urban areas, following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops last week.

In a video circulated late on Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men with hands tied behind their backs into a Gaza City square, forced them to their knees and shot them from behind, as dozens of onlookers watched from nearby shopfronts.

A Hamas source confirmed that the video was filmed on Monday and that Hamas terrorists participated in the executions of ‘collaborators.’

On Monday the US president proclaimed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” to Israel’s parliament, as Israel and Hamas were exchanging the last 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and terrorists.

But so far, Hamas has handed over only four coffins of dead hostages, leaving at least 23 presumed dead and one unaccounted for, still in Gaza.

Aid trucks have yet to be permitted to enter Gaza at the full anticipated rate of hundreds per day, and plans have yet to be implemented to open the crossing to Egypt to let some Gazans out, initially to evacuate the wounded for medical treatment.

The highly public return of Hamas to control of Gaza’s streets demonstrates the hurdles to progressing from the initial ceasefire – phase one of Trump’s plan – to a permanent settlement that would prevent a new eruption of fighting.

Gaza residents said Hamas terrorists were increasingly visible on Tuesday, deploying along routes needed for aid deliveries.

Palestinian security sources said dozens of people had been killed in clashes between Hamas fighters and rivals in recent days.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it had fired on people who crossed truce lines and approached its forces after ignoring calls to turn back.

A summit co-hosted by Trump in Egypt on Monday ended with no public announcement of major progress towards establishing an international military force for Gaza, or a new governing body.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently maintained that the war cannot end until Hamas gives up its weapons and ceases to control Gaza, a demand that the fighters have rejected, torpedoing all previous peace efforts.

But Trump, having announced that the war is now over, said on Monday Hamas still had a temporary green light to keep order.

“They do want to stop the problems, and they’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time,” he said.

Hamas sources told Reuters on Tuesday the group would tolerate no more violations of order in Gaza and would target collaborators, armed looters and drug dealers.

The group, though greatly weakened after two years of pummeling Israeli bombardment and ground incursions, has been gradually reasserting itself since the ceasefire took hold.

It has deployed hundreds of workers to start rubble clearing on key routes needed to access damaged or destroyed housing and to repair broken water pipes. Road clearance and security provision will also be needed for increased aid delivery.

The ceasefire has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas-led terrorists killed around 1,200 people and seized 251 hostages.

housands of Gazans have been returning to homes since the ceasefire, many finding whole streets bombed into dust.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said that while aid was getting into Gaza with tents, tarpaulin sheets, winter clothes, family hygiene kits and other critical items, she hoped for a significant increase later this week.