Here are some facts. Hamas recruitment in Gaza is up. Hamas has been accumulating and restocking weapons and ammunition. There is still a web of tunnels under Gaza of more than 100 miles that the IDF has not dismantled, and Hamas is moving around freely.

There is nodisarmament of Hamas coming. Hamas will never disarm willingly. They are Islamic jihadists with a single white-hot focus. Kill Jews. Kills Jews. Kill Jews, and kill more Jews.

President Trump, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and anyone else in the Trump White House, in Congress, in America who believes they hold the upper hand, that Hamas “a deal” can and will be struck with Hamas to fulfill President Trump’s fantasy 20-point peace plan, well, ya’ all are dreamin’ and out of touch with reality. Unaware of Islam. Naive about Hamas.

There is no sound negotiation through a third-party Islamist nation that favors Hamas, Islam, jihad, and wants to see Hamas remain in power in Gaza and fully armed.

Yet President Trump, Steve Witkof,f and Jared Kushner are blindly, foolishly convinced they will be the ones to alter the history and ideology of Islam, of Hamas, of the militant arab Middle East.

Deluded.

Time will tell, and I hope I’m wrong, but let me know how things went between now and six months from now, a year from now, if we’re all still around.

Because Hamas will still be in Gaza, in power, fully armed, and fighting.

Unless — only unless Israel either on its own, or after realizing the futility and mythological reach of the 20-point peace plan, the Trump Administration backtracks and gives the green light to Israel to go in and finish Hamas off. Which could have been done months ago had President Trump not halted Israel’s advance and imminent victory, as Israel, by their calculations, was only about three weeks away from totally beating Hamas.

But…Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other Islamist nations interfered with and captured President Trump’s ear. And rather than supporting and defending Israel and allowing them to end this, he bowed to Islam and did the bidding of the Islamist nations. All due to his naive blindness, he’s the prince of peace, he’s Mr. World Peace.

Hello, Mr. President? They already handed out the Nobel Peace Prize, and you didn’t win it, which I know fries you and you still stew about — but they’re never going to give it to you because they hate you. So, why not just do the right thing then, and back Israel 100% and stop listening to and obeying Islam and the likes of terrorist Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey?

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Hamas tightens grip in Gaza, increasing skepticism of Trump’s peace plan

Terror group seeks to be part of postwar government and police, IDF tells PM; inside source says U.S.-backed technocrat panel “may have key to the car, but it’s a Hamas car”

February 19, 2026

By Reuters and Times of Israel Staff

Reprinted from Times of Israel

Hamas is cementing its hold over Gaza by placing loyalists in key government roles, collecting taxes and paying salaries, according to an Israeli military assessment seen by Reuters and sources in the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas’s continuing influence over key Gaza power structures has fueled widespread skepticism about the prospects of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which requires the terror group to give up its weapons in exchange for an Israeli military withdrawal from the territory.

Trump’s international Board of Peace, which is meant to supervise Gaza’s transitional governance, is holding its inaugural meeting in Washington on Thursday.

“Hamas is advancing steps on the ground meant to preserve its influence and grip in the Gaza Strip ‘from the bottom up’ by means of integrating its supporters in government offices, security apparatuses and local authorities,” the military said in a document presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late January.

Hamas says it is ready to hand over administration of the enclave to a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats headed by Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority official in the West Bank. But it says Israel has not yet allowed committee members to enter Gaza to assume their responsibilities.

Netanyahu did not respond to Reuters’ questions about Hamas’s control over Gaza. An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed any notion of a future role for the group as “twisted fantasy,” saying, “Hamas is finished as a governing authority in the Gaza Strip.”

The Israeli military declined to comment on Hamas’s assertions.

Israeli military officials say Hamas, which refuses to disarm, has been taking advantage of an October ceasefire to reassert control in areas vacated by Israeli troops. Israel still holds over half of Gaza, but nearly all its 2 million people are in Hamas-held areas.

Reuters could not determine the full scope of Hamas’s appointments and attempts to replenish its coffers.

New governors

Hamas has named five district governors, all of them with links to its armed al-Qassam Brigades, according to two Palestinian sources with direct knowledge of its operations. It has also replaced senior officials in Gaza’s economy and interior ministries, which manage taxation and security, the sources said.

And a new deputy health minister was shown touring Gaza hospitals in a ministry video released this month.

“Shaath may have the key to the car, and he may even be allowed to drive, but it is a Hamas car,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Israel’s military appears to have reached a similar conclusion.

“Looking ahead, without Hamas disarmament and under the auspices of the technocrat committee, Hamas will succeed, in our view, to preserve influence and control in the Gaza Strip,” it said in its assessment, which was first reported by Channel 13 news.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-controlled government’s media office, denied these were new appointments, saying temporary replacements had been found for posts left vacant during the war to “prevent any administrative vacuum” and ensure residents receive vital services while negotiations continue over next steps in the peace process.

The US State Department and Shaath’s National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A source close to the 15-member NCAG said it was aware of Hamas’s actions and was not happy about them.

On Saturday, the committee issued a statement urging international mediators to step up efforts to resolve outstanding issues, saying it would not be able to carry out its responsibilities “without the full administrative, civilian, and police powers necessary to implement its mandate effectively.”

Board of Peace set to hold first meeting

The appointment of Shaath’s committee in January marked the start of the next phase of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, even as key elements of the first phase — including a complete cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas — remain unfulfilled.

The Board of Peace is expected to receive reports on the committee’s work on Thursday.

Trump is also expected to announce countries that will commit personnel for a UN-authorized stabilization force and help train a new Palestinian police force, which the NCAG is expected to manage.

Hamas is looking to incorporate 10,000 of its police officers in the new force, Reuters reported in January. They include hundreds of members of its powerful internal security service, which has merged with the police, two sources in Gaza said.

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this assertion.

Asked whether Israel would raise concerns about Hamas’s entrenchment in Gaza at Thursday’s meeting, Netanyahu’s office did not comment.

Israel has said repeatedly it opposes any role for Hamas in Gaza after it attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing more than 1,200 people. Israel’s air and ground assault on the enclave has killed more than 72,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

One of the stated goals of Israel’s campaign was “dismantling Hamas governing capabilities” in Gaza.

The terror group seized control of the territory in a brief civil war with its political rival, Fatah, in 2007. Since then, appointments to government ministries and municipal offices there have been decided by Hamas’s political wing. It also set up its own civil service, which employs tens of thousands of people.

At least 14 of Gaza’s 17 ministries are now operating, compared with five at the height of the war, according to the Israeli military document. At least 13 of its 25 municipalities have also resumed operations, it says.

Hamas’s Thawabta said “this relative recovery” was not a product of “political considerations.”