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As the war with Iran dominates the region’s attention, Hamas is quietly reasserting control inside Gaza, according to videos and photos circulating on social media. An Israeli analyst and a Gazan political commentator say the developments raise fresh doubts about whether postwar plans for the enclave can move forward anytime soon.
Michael Milshtein, a senior analyst at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said Hamas has used the past two and a half weeks not only to rehabilitate militarily but to project visible control in public life.
“They are really making good use of them to establish their power in the public sphere, not just for military rehabilitation,” Milshtein said, describing what he said were new recruits, police deployments and even parades in central Gaza. “Hamas is here to stay.”
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Hamas terrorists stand in formation as Palestinians gather on a street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Feb. 8, 2025. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He said Gazans have reported that Hamas is also rebuilding the machinery of governance. “Their police are everywhere,” he said. “They are also improving their taxation system.” During Ramadan, he added, Hamas personnel were checking markets and mosques and “starting to build education systems.”
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a Gazan political analyst, agrees momentum around postwar Gaza planning has largely stalled since the Iran war escalated.
“Everything with regard to Gaza has been put on hold,” Abu Saada told Fox News Digital. Before the regional war erupted, he said, developments had been “moving in the right direction,” including work around the Board of Peace, the Gaza Technical Committee and discussions tied to a possible international stabilization force.
“Yes, Hamas has taken advantage of the current situation,” Abu Saada said. “They are not under the pressure that they were before.”
Both analysts pointed to the same broad dynamic: as attention shifted to Iran, pressure on Hamas eased.
Abu Saada said that before the war, there had been what he described as serious discussions about disarmament, the deployment of an international force and Gaza’s political future. But “the enthusiasm that preceded the war has come down,” he said, adding that Gaza has been pushed to the “back burner.”
“When I talk to Palestinians, they tell me, ‘Listen, we are actually already waiting for the day after the war,’” Milshtein said. He said some expect Netanyahu to become “very indebted to Trump because of the war in Iran, and he will have to accept whatever dictates he has regarding Gaza.”
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Terrorists in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah celebrate the ceasefire on Jan. 19, 2025. (TPS-IL)
At the center of that conversation is the prospect of an international stabilization force entering Gaza. But both men suggested Hamas may not see such a force as a threat.
Abu Saada said Hamas had “welcomed the deployment” of such a force and appears to view it as “restraining the Israeli army” rather than coming in “to disarm” the group. He said the possibility of troops from countries such as Indonesia may make such a deployment appear less threatening to Hamas, which could see it as a buffer against continued Israeli military operations.
Milshtein took that argument further, saying Hamas sees the model less as a peacekeeping mission than as a version of the Hezbollah-UNIFIL arrangement in Lebanon.
“Hamas says, ‘I have no problem, it will be like UNIFIL in Lebanon,’” Milshtein said. “Don’t even dream about starting to chase us, taking our weapons, and entering the tunnels. You need to protect us from Israel as well.”
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Hezbollah terrorists are taking part in cross-border raids, part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, bordering Israel, on May 21, 2023 ahead of the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Abu Saada said the next phase depends heavily on how the Iran war ends. If the Iranian regime survives and avoids collapse, he said, Hamas will draw encouragement from that outcome.
“If Iran is not defeated, if the Iranian regime is not collapsing, that’s going to be some kind of moral support for Hamas,” he said.