In this sharp, closely argued report, Giorgia Valente examines how a brief diplomatic effort to tie Gaza’s postwar reconstruction to Hamas disarmament quickly lost momentum as the US-Iran crisis pushed Gaza back to the margins. The result, she shows, is painfully familiar: Gaza’s future reappears on the diplomatic agenda, only to be swallowed again by a larger regional emergency.
At the center of the article is a hard question with no workable answer in sight. Regional and diplomatic channels signaled renewed pressure on Hamas to consider disarmament as part of a broader reconstruction framework, but no formal ultimatum or binding mechanism emerged. Instead, the issue was left hanging between political messaging and practical paralysis. Valente explains that this latest push was tied to a broader US-led effort, described in diplomatic discussions as the “Board of Peace,” which treats disarmament as a condition for funding, outside involvement, and possible postwar administrative arrangements in Gaza. Yet without enforcement tools, the plan looks more like leverage than policy.
The article is strongest when it brings in two expert voices who expose the gap between diplomatic ambition and reality. Michael Milshtein of the Moshe Dayan Center argues that Hamas has shown no willingness to surrender its weapons and may instead accept a Hezbollah-style formula: a new political wrapper with the same armed power underneath. In his reading, even a US-backed “day after” arrangement would be more likely to repackage Hamas than remove it. On the legal side, British-Palestinian solicitor Amjad Salfiti warns that making reconstruction conditional on disarmament could place intolerable pressure on civilians, while also running into serious humanitarian-law objections.
Taken together, the picture is bleak. Hamas disarmament remains a diplomatic objective without a path to implementation, while Gaza’s civilians remain trapped in the space between reconstruction promises, legal disputes, and regional power politics. Near the end of the piece, Giorgia Valente brings the argument back to the people living there: governance, security, and rebuilding are not abstractions for Gaza’s two million residents, but the stuff of daily survival. Read the full article for the fuller diplomatic and legal picture.
