Rebuilding Gaza is Pointless Unless Hamas is Eradicated

by Khaled Abu Toameh

• The establishment of a new government in the Gaza Strip while Hamas maintains its military capabilities there unfortunately will not work. Hamas's presence during reconstruction will only result in the emergence of the Lebanon model: Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy terror group, simply created a terrorist state-within-a-state.
• Worse, having a new government that would oversee reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip while Hamas is still there would exempt the Palestinian terrorist group from its responsibilities towards Gaza's residents. The new government would not be able to stop Hamas from rearming, regrouping, and preparing more attacks against Israel -- as Hamas has unremittingly vowed to do.
• The new government would be busy rebuilding homes and skyscrapers and delivering humanitarian aid, while Hamas and the other terror groups would have all the time in the world to rebuild tunnels and manufacture weapons.
• Hamas never cared about the well-being of the Palestinians under its rule in the Gaza Strip. The terrorist group could have built schools, universities, and hospitals. Instead, it chose to invest millions of dollars in building a vast network of tunnels to attack Israel, smuggle and hide weapons, and torture Israeli hostages.
• The reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the resumption of humanitarian aid should be conditioned on the removal of Hamas from power and disarming of all of Gaza's terror groups.
• Hamas should be completely excluded from any plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip because all it cares about is pursuing its Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel and murder as many Jews as possible.

As Arab and Western leaders continue to discuss plans to rebuild the Gaza Strip, the ran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has again rejected laying down its weapons. It is clear that the terrorist group is determined to hold on to its weapons and its power, even if that entails depriving Gazans of reconstruction and further humanitarian aid. Hamas must not only be removed from power; it must disappear altogether. Pictured: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) welcomes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo on March 4, 2025, photographed from a large screen at the Arab League summit. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)

As Arab and Western leaders continue to discuss plans to rebuild the Gaza Strip, the ran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has again rejected laying down its weapons.

For Hamas, preserving its weapons and military wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam, is apparently more important than the reconstruction of thousands of homes and buildings destroyed during the Hamas-Israel war, which erupted after the terrorist group's October 7, 2023, bloodthirsty attack on Israel.

"Disarming Hamas is a red line," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted as saying on March 4. He added that his group will not accept exchanging its weapons for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the resumption of humanitarian aid.

Abu Zuhri described the talk about Hamas's disarmament as "nonsense" and stressed that weapons are a red line for Hamas and all terror factions in the Gaza Strip. "The weapons are not subject to bargaining and are not up for discussion or negotiation," he said.

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