After a breach of the ceasefire when Hamas operatives killed Israeli soldiers, the current cease‑fire in Gaza is hanging by a thread. Indeed, Hamas repeatedly violates the ceasefire by approaching and attacking Israeli troops along the line.
Though we thought the war was over when the cease-fire deal was struck, it’s in fact far from over. Israel’s insight is that Hamas entered the truce not to build peace but to regain space, regroup, and prepare for another round of conflict.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on October 19, “Today, I am submitting to the government the proposal to give the war a permanent name: The War of Redemption. Two years after the October 7 disaster, we remember how it all began, we rose up from the disaster.”
This assessment prompted Israel to launch a forceful military response when IDF soldiers were killed, targeting what it identified as Hamas infrastructure, including weapons caches, tunnel entrances, and command hubs across Gaza.
The original ceasefire agreement included clear obligations on Hamas’s side. These included returning hostages, both living and dead (Hamas was supposed to return the dead hostages within 72 hours), dismantling militant units, and contributing to a broader restructuring of Gaza’s governing systems.
But Hamas has failed to meet these expectations — particularly by retaining the bodies of Israeli captives and continuing to direct militant operations during the truce.
Israel’s priority was getting the living hostages back, but Hamas’ actions are not just violations of the agreement’s terms, but betrayals of its underlying intent.
Getting Israel’s deceased hostages back is especially urgent. Analyst Yaakov Lappin adds, “The people who are suffering really are the families here who are waiting for closure, waiting to bury their loved ones. And it’s easy to say, well, it’s not urgent because they’re no longer with us. But it is urgent and they have every right for closure.”
The United States weighed in on Hamas’ latest hostilities with a warning that reinforced Israel’s position. The State Department stated it had “credible reports” suggesting Hamas was preparing to launch a new attack against civilians in Gaza — a move that would represent a “direct and grave violation” of the ceasefire, confirming Israel’s argument that Hamas is exploiting the ceasefire as cover for renewed aggression.
For direct IDF insight amidst this fast-moving threat, we of course turn to the Nameless One, who has been with the Leader in spirit since the beginning of the war.
I’d sensed a leeriness in him pertaining to the ceasefire since it was first agreed upon, and with Hamas’ current violations I asked him how he knew the agreement may falter. “I just know my country,” he answered. Indeed, Israel was anticipating the violations. The nameless one says you can’t change facts (which aren’t as fluid in the Middle East as they are in the West) “with a nice peace summit.”
Later, he delved deeper into this understanding by reframing the question. “Can Palestinians be de-radicalized?” he asks. “Just like Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were de-radicalized after World War II?” (This is the perspective the West may better understand).
He examines this question by making the point that the Palestinians were radicalized by “1400 years of Islamic teachings and a century of war and open jihad against the Zionist movement and the Jews.”
Indeed, this would explain why Hamas has immediately violated the cease-fire agreement.
The Nameless One further makes the distinction between the current cease-fire agreement, and the end of World War II. “This is not like Imperial Japan that had a few decades of radicalization, or Nazi Germany that had 12 years in total,” he enlightens.
“Unlike Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan that only had a few tens of millions of people in each country, the Palestinians view themselves as a part of the Islamic Ummah – 2 billion people (The Islamic ummah is the global community of all Muslims, united by their shared faith in Islam, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, or cultural background).
“They imagine that 2 billion Muslims around the world are supposed to support them psychologically, financially, and morally.
“Unlike Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan who were completely isolated by the end of the war, the Palestinians get their support from the radical left as well as neo Marxist movement, white guilt, colonial guilt – all that is a part of their support.
“At the end of WWII, the Allies basically had full control over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan , so they could dictate their curriculum, media, television, everything. They could censor whatever they didn’t like – who is going to do this de-radicalization process in Gaza and the West Bank? The Israelis?
“At the end of WWII, there was an unconditional surrender of Japan and Germany to the Allies. Israel never demanded unconditional surrender in Gaza, and even if it would, the hostage situation in Gaza made it impossible.
“So now we have some kind of a settlement, some kind of an agreement, that involves hostile countries to Israel that are very antisemitic – Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt. These countries are involved in the future of Gaza.
“I don’t think they’re going to de-radicalize, I don’t see any incentive for them to do that,” the Nameless One realizes.
Trump has threatened to “eradicate” Hamas if it does not “straighten out.”
It may in fact take a historical overhaul for Hamas to finally comply, an uprooting of terror in the Middle East.
There seems to be no written agreements that would work, which may be the underlying difference between what is happening in the Middle East now and the events of World War II.
Justine Hemmestad earned a Bachelor’s Degree at The University of Iowa, and a Master’s Degree in Literature through Northern Arizona University. She’s written three books (published by Turtle Shell Publishing and Antimony and Elder Lace Press) and has been included in nearly 30 anthologies. She’s owned The Dayton Leader newspaper in Iowa for over a year, and has a vested, familial passion for Israel.