Demilitarization of Hamas and American diplomacy

On September 6, 2026, Jerod Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in law and a member of a team in charge of the administration’s diplomacy concerning Gaza Strip describes Israel’s steps to advance Trump’s vision for the enclave: “We’re working through some political issues in Israel” and “They just have a crazy election, and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards.” During the same interview Jerod Kushner admits: “We’re now starting to understand the scope of the militarization of Gaza. It is beyond your comprehension, and so demilitarizing it is not going to be easy.”

Jerod Kushner’s characterization of Israel internal matter of coming October 27, 2026, general elections and behaviors of parties involved, as “crazy” and “irrational” does carry a sense of patronizing.

During a conversation at the YES (Yalta European Strategy) Annual Conference held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 13, 2026, Jerod Kushner expressed strong criticism regarding Israel’s strike of Doha, Qatar a year prior: “Israel did the strike in Doha, which was a terrible thing” and “that led to Israel being globally isolated.” In conclusion, Kushner points to the positive outcome of the whole affair: “At the time, they (Israel) were a little uncomfortable with kind of what we were pushing them to do”, and yet “Ultimately, it turned out to be great for them.” Kushner also sees advantages for the residents of Gaza strip: “And it turned out to be great for people of Gaza, because now we have a new government there.”

The diplomat use of the phrase “what we were pushing them to do” implies that “naïve and not so wise” Israel needed guidance from big brother. Another example of condescension and patronizing close to affront.

In a nutshell, all the statements above by Trump’s administration’s diplomat are aimed to provide rational to justify the present stagnated state of Trump’s plan for Gaza Strip, an initiative which does not move forward.

Nevertheless, Trump’s son-in-law had identified correctly the main reason for stalled progression of Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza Strip:” We’re now starting to understand the scope of the militarization of Gaza. It is beyond your comprehension, and so demilitarizing it is not going to be easy” he said on September 13, 2026, “You can’t go in if there are guns, right? You can’t send the government into a place” he explained on September 6, 2026. This statement contradicts his assertion made on September 13, 2026, that people of Gaza have a new government. Then, as of today, Israel does not let the provisional technocratic government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) to enter Gaza because of Hamas’s refusal to disarm itself. The acknowledgment by official representative of American government of the obstacles to Trump’s plan for Gaza, sounds like a reality check for diplomats who were assuming delusionaly the desirable while ignoring hard facts on the ground.

Reality of Demilitarization of Hamas.

As Jerod Kushner noted, the demilitarization of Hamas is very difficult and complex undertaking. There are political, physical, strategic, structural and social barriers en route to disarm the terrorist organization. The rulers of Hamas make the disarmament of their organization subject to Israel’s unconditional withdraw from Gaza Strip. The official validated disarmament of Hamas and its relinquishing of military power in the enclave, is the Israeli precondition for IDF withdrawal from the enclave. These clearly stated positions of the opposing sides do not leave much room for meaningful negotiations face to face. It also makes it difficult for a third party, in this case for a diplomatic team of Jerod Kushner and Steve Witkoff, to pursue parties involved to adhere to the steps of Trump’s plan. They reached an agreement with Hamas to allow National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) into enclave. This is acceptable and beneficial for the terrorists who would relinquish the civil responsibilities for the lives of citizens of Gaza to NCAG and still have authority over the Gaza strip with 10,000 police force, military cadre and infrastructure to attack Jewish state. Hamas’s promise to start disarmament is a lie, it contradicts the militant group’s ideology based on beliefs of Muslim Brotherhood.

The Israeli leadership, reflecting the opinion of majority Israelis, do not believe that Hamas will give up their weapons voluntarily and resists the pressure of Jerod Kushner and Steve Witkoff to allow NCAG into Gaza Strip before Hamas’s confirmed disarmament. This resistance to allow NCAG into Gaza led to Jerod Kushner’s patronizing characterization of the present Israeli situation as “crazy” and “irrational”. Israeli leaders also reject propositions to pass on the security of the enclave to international forces pointing to the previous failure of the multinational task force to disarm military groups. The terrorist’s organization Hamas to survive will lie, lie and one more time lie.

The following are few factors might affect the demilitarization of Hamas.

The guerilla warfare like, decentralized and bottom-up command structure of Hamas allows the terrorists to blend among primarily friendly civilian population after the military actions and hide weapons. This can make the systematic counting of arms problematic.

The 1.8 billion of Qatar money to Hamas, the terrorists have invested to build unprecedented physical military subterranean network of tunnels stretching up to 450 miles with 5,700 entrance shafts located in mosques, hospitals, schools and other civilian structures. As per assessments by military and intelligence experts, after October 7, 2023, Israel destroyed or extensively disabled from 25 to 40 percent of Hamas’s tunnel system. Therefore, it leaves approximately 60 to 75 percent of Hamas’s subterranean infrastructures undamaged and operational. It allows the terrorists to withstand heavy aerial bombardments and to store and hide weapons in the tunnels as well as continue to use underground manufacturing facilities to produce new arms.

More than half of the tunnel network operational gives Hamas the incentive and physical base to continue its operations against Israel. Who knows what arsenal of weaponry is hidden there and who and how many terrorists are underground at the present?

It is obvious, Hamas will not voluntarily disarm itself and, consequently, there is a need in the force powerful enough to take away terrorist’s weapons. As per Trump’s plan an International Stabilization Force (ISF) is this instrument to strip Hamas of its arsenal. Yet, the few counties who agreed to join ISF are refusing to be part of the operation to wrest Hamas’s weapons by force.

So, who will disarm Hamas? Israel is the only power able and ready to disarm Hamas, the entity the Jewish state considers existential threat to the country.