written by Prof. Kobi Michael | 22.02.2026
US President Donald Trump on Thursday convened the Board of Peace in Washington for a significant kick-off meeting on his 20-point plan for Gaza.
As usual, Trump glorified the board and some of its members and participants and did not spare himself from self-aggrandizement and some exaggerated declarations about the peace agreements he had achieved in extremely short periods of time. He then referred to Gaza, stating that the war was over, except for a few small flames here and there.
The president also praised his team for helping to implement his plan and expressed confidence regarding dismantling Hamas, noting that the terror organization has pledged to disarm but will be disarmed by force if it does not do so voluntarily and peacefully.
Although the US president pledged $10 billion to the board’s budget and program, managed to mobilize several world leaders to support it and even join as members, and secured commitments from five countries to inject money into the board’s coffers and to send troops to the International Stabilization Force (ISF), the gap between these lofty declarations and the practical reality on the ground in Gaza is no less embarrassing.
If this gap is not closed, or at least reduced, Gaza’s residents will sink into a continuing reality of a life of hardship in a devastated region devoid of vitality and future. Israel will face a complex security challenge, which may escalate and spill over into other arenas. Regional security stability may be undermined, with further and dangerous erosion in relations between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.
The essence of the gap between the vision, the festive atmosphere, the lofty declarations, and the reality on the ground stems from Hamas’s demonstrable and declared refusal to disarm.
It has denied its previous promises to disarm, and the group’s leaders have publicly reaffirmed their intention to retain weapons and continue the armed struggle against Israel until the end of the “occupation,” with some statements not necessarily clarifying the nature of the “occupation.”
Beyond that, Hamas is working vigorously to restore its military and governmental capabilities, including governors, ministers, and other officials, who, in its view, should be integrated into the new technocratic governmental system.
It demands the integration of 10,000 security personnel from its apparatuses into the new security system that will be established and operated by the technocratic government and has even vetoed the entry of Sami Nasman, the prospective internal security minister, into Gaza, essentially forcing him to operate outside the enclave.
In the reality that is emerging and concretizing with each passing day, Hamas is preparing the infrastructure for the “day after,” creating mechanisms to influence the functioning of the technocratic government.
In fact, it is perfecting Hezbollah’s model in Lebanon: a terrorist organization that dictates the agenda and the scope of action of the civilian government by force.
Hamas’s control of all state institutions and the fact that the technocratic government will not be able to import teachers from India, engineers from Kazakhstan, doctors from Indonesia, and professionals from other countries, means the Gazan workforce – employed by Hamas, identified with the organization, and committed to or fearful of it – will not go against the terror group, even on the day its salary is paid by the technocratic government.
As long as Hamas is not disarmed and ceases to be an effective and present governing entity in Gaza, the technocratic government has no real chance of establishing alternative governance to Hamas and preparing the conditions for the beginning of the process of rebuilding the Strip.
The same is also true of the ISF, which has not yet been established.
Five countries have already announced their willingness to send soldiers to the task force, and Egypt, Jordan, and even European countries such as Italy have announced their willingness to train Palestinians who intend to serve in the security apparatuses in Gaza. An online tender for recruiting people for the new security apparatuses has even been published.
Yet, there is not a single military force that is ready and capable of dealing with Hamas and disarming it and demilitarizing the enclave. There is not a single country or government that is ready to send its soldiers to fight Hamas. And since the terror group is not ready to disarm voluntarily or by virtue of cooperation with the 20-point plan, this is nothing more than an embarrassing show.
The only chance of narrowing the gap between the launch and establishment of the Board of Peace and the beginning of a process of reconstruction and real change in Gaza is by disarming Hamas and dismantling it as a political/governmental force and by demilitarizing the enclave.
It would be better if President Trump were to succeed in leading Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt to force the move on Hamas, but the chance of that is almost nonexistent. These three countries, certainly Turkey and Qatar, cannot realize such a goal.
The other option is to order the IDF to complete the mission, which should have been completed long ago and which was also defined by the Israeli government as a war goal. Under current conditions, this is a completely possible mission due to Hamas’s relative weakness compared to its situation a year or two ago and due to the lack of hostages in the field, which greatly limited the IDF’s maneuverability.
President Trump will be able to reach this decision only after exhausting all other options and becoming convinced that there is no chance of implementing his own plan without dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza and that only the IDF can do this job.
Published in The Jerusalem Post, February 22, 2026.