Why an international force won’t disarm Hamas – opinion

The path to eventually leaving Gaza may require Israel to return fully to it.

By Hezy Laing

Since the IDF pulled back to the Yellow Line, four soldiers have been killed in renewed attacks.

These incidents highlight a simple truth: partial withdrawal creates space for Hamas to reassert itself.

Hamas is estimated to retain 3,000 rockets, 1,000–2,000 mortars, and dozens of anti‑tank missiles, along with hundreds of RPG launchers.

Its small‑arms stockpile remains large, with tens of thousands of rifles and thousands of machine guns, plus thousands of IEDs and dozens to hundreds of drones.

Despite mounting international pressure for a multinational stabilization force, security analysts argue that such proposals ignore the lessons of recent history.

“Whatever happened within the Gaza Strip is totally under Hamas’s responsibility,” said regional security expert Dr. Yael Miller‑Katav, pointing to the destruction and humanitarian crisis that followed years of Hamas rule and the subsequent war.

“Leaving it to be rebuilt by those who created this situation in the first place is a critical mistake.”

Paradoxically, the path to eventually leaving Gaza may require Israel to return fully to it.

As political scientist Prof. Hillel Frisch explained, the central challenge is simple but daunting: “how to get rid of Hamas.”

Washington’s push for a multinational force to oversee disarmament, he argued, is detached from operational reality.

“If anyone needs proof of that, you can just look to the 12,000‑man UN force in Lebanon since 2006,” he said, referring to UNIFIL’s mandate to prevent Hezbollah’s rearmament.

“Forty‑six countries contributed, and it didn’t prevent a movement of one single Hezbollah terrorist.”

Nearly twenty years after the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah’s massive arsenal and its October 8, 2023 rocket barrage remain a stark indictment of international monitoring missions.

According to former IDF Northern Command strategist Col. (res.) Amit Shalev, “UNIFIL became a buffer of symbolism, not security. No foreign force will confront a terror army embedded in civilian areas.”

For Israel, the conclusion is unavoidable: only the IDF has the capability, intelligence infrastructure, and political will to dismantle Hamas.

International forces may offer legitimacy, but they cannot offer results.