Israeli forces and Hamas are gearing up to resume deadly fighting in the Gaza Strip, with both sides accusing each other of major cease-fire violations as progress on President Trump’s peace deal stalls, according to reports.
The Israeli military has drawn up plans for new ground operations inside the coastal enclave, as the Palestinian terror group rebuilds its wartime assets lost during the conflict, including destroyed tunnel networks, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing people briefed on the matter.
The renewed intensive military operation is slated for March and would focus on Gaza City, with the aim of expanding the Israel Defense Forces’ control over the territory, according to the Times of Israel.
Despite the cease-fire, there’s been almost daily bombings in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, instead of disarming as the cease-fire requires, Hamas has been rebuilding its military capabilities, Israeli and Arab officials said.
The militant group has also been replenishing its war chest — with cash hidden in underground tunnels during the war and revenue generated by taxing goods and services in Gaza.
Hamas terrorists has beefed up its recruitment efforts, according to the report. ZUMAPRESS.com
Crews sift through the rubble to search for the bodies of Palestinians killed during the war. HAITHAM IMAD/EPA/ShutterstockHamas is also reportedly receiving money from Iran, according to officials, with the influx of cash allowing them to pay its fighters and bolster recruitment in an effort to appoint new terrorists to replace commanders killed during the deadly two-year conflict, the outlet reported.
The news comes as Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip Thursday that killed at least 13 people, including children, after the IDF blamed Hamas for a failed rocket attack from the coastal enclave, despite a ceasefire meant to halt the war, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said the strike came in response to the terror group breaching the ceasefire agreement after a rocket was launched from Gaza City toward the Jewish state, though the missile fell short and landed by a hospital in coastal territory.
The retaliatory attack targeted and struck several Hamas militants, rocket launch sites, and “terror infrastructure,” including tunnels used for launching rockets in both northern and southern Gaza.
“The launch carried out from the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF and Shin Bet security service said in a joint statement Friday morning, the Times of Israel reported.
Since the cease-fire was enacted in October, Hamas has cracked down on rivals as it moved to cement its hold over Gaza, leading to violent clashes in the war-torn enclave. ZUMAPRESS.com
Palestinians walk along a road amid destroyed buildings in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on January 10, 2026. AFP via Getty Images“The IDF and the Shin Bet view any breach of the agreement with the utmost severity and will continue to act against any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces or Israeli civilians.”
Since the cease-fire was enacted in October, Hamas has cracked down on rivals as it moved to cement its hold over Gaza, leading to violent clashes in the war-torn enclave.
The Board of Peace that will oversee the second phase of the tenuous deal — with Trump expected to announce the 15 world leaders that will serve on the board next week — will be tasked with determining how Hamas’ disarmament is carried out and what it entails, including whether that will require small arms.
The terror group is reportedly willing to relinquish the remainder of its heavy weapons but refuses to surrender its small arms, Arab officials said.
“They’ve made an agreement that they’re going to disarm,” Trump said Friday on Fox News.
“We’re going to have to assume that they’re going to, but you know it’s not their nature to disarm.”
Trump previously said Hamas would be given “a very short period of time” to surrender their weapons or “there will be hell to pay.” But the president also said he is not willing to put phase two on hold — which calls for the creation of a so-called International Stabilization Force to police Gaza — while waiting for that to happen.
Former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov was named by Trump earlier this week to lead the Board of Peace.
Mladenov already met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Thursday, and Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank Friday.
Israel’s planned offensive won’t be able to go forward without the support of the US, which is still hoping to move the cease-fire plan forward, according to the Arab diplomat who spoke to the Times of Israel.
Netanyahu reportedly does not believe the international body led by Trump to oversee Gaza will be successful in disarming Hamas, which is why he ordered the IDF to prepare a “contingency plan.”
