Hamas Is Already Violating the Peace Deal

National Review Online

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

 

The Middle East peace deal that President Trump brokered earlier this month is reaching a precarious phase, with multiple violations of the agreement by Hamas having triggered a response by Israel.

 

On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance joined negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Israel, urging calm during the delicate phase of implementation.

 

Under the terms of the deal, all 48 remaining hostages held in Gaza — both living and dead — were supposed to be returned to Israel within 72 hours of the agreement being accepted by all parties. While Israel did receive the 20 living hostages on time, only 13 of the 28 bodies have been returned.

 

While the deceased hostages have not received the same level of focus, their recovery is of supreme importance to the families of the taken, who have not been able to have a proper burial or gain any sense of closure for the murders of their loved ones.

 

In addition, the terrorist group has shown no willingness to disarm. Its fighters have moved swiftly to reestablish control over the nearly half of Gaza where there is no longer an Israeli presence. Hamas terrorists have been killing off members of rival clans, taking their weapons, and executing anybody accused of having collaborated with Israel, along with their families.

 

A Hamas spokesman declared, “We do not need to limit ourselves to the Israeli terms and definitions related to weapons,” raising fears that that the terrorist group views the cease-fire as a mere hudna — or temporary pause in fighting — that will allow it to regroup and regain strength for a longer war against Israel. The role of Turkey and Qatar — two leading Hamas sponsors — in postwar Gaza has added to the sense of anxiety about the sustainability of the deal for Israelis.

 

For now, Trump’s approach has been to allow the deal to play out while warning Hamas that this forbearance won’t last forever.

 

Hamas has claimed that it doesn’t know where all the deceased bodies are — a claim that is disputed by Israelis, who have presented the U.S. with evidence that the terrorist group is intentionally dragging out the return of the bodies. But so far Trump has accepted the narrative that bodies need to be found and dug out of the rubble. On Tuesday, Vance urged Israelis to have patience as the bodies are recovered.

 

Over the weekend, terrorists fired at Israelis operating in Rafah in southern Gaza, killing two soldiers. Israel responded with air strikes, though Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to exercise restraint and avoid a larger escalation that would threaten the cease-fire.

 

In several statements, Trump has said Hamas would have to turn over all the bodies and to disarm, or it would be done violently. “Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and ‘straighten our Hamas’ if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us,” he reiterated in a Truth Social post. He added, “I told these countries, and Israel, ‘NOT YET!’ There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!”

 

Palestinian terrorists have for decades played a masterful game of pacifying Western leaders with toothless overtures while pursuing their agenda of violence and barbarism. If Hamas continues to violate the terms of the deal, we hope that Trump will follow through on his warnings.