Gaza on the Brink: Netanyahu's Secret Plans to Resume War as Peace Talks Collapse

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have hit a wall. Israeli officials are now preparing to restart military operations, and sources say Washington may give the green light. Here's what just happened.

The fragile ceasefire holding Gaza together is unraveling fast. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have reached a complete deadlock, and military action could resume within days.

This week, an Israeli air strike killed Azzam al-Hayya, the son of Hamas’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. The killing sent shockwaves through already-tense negotiations and signaled that Israel is losing patience.

Michael Eisenberg, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made Israel’s position crystal clear to the BBC: “We understood, everyone understood that Hamas would not disarm, and they have followed through on their intentions.” He called Hamas “an unrepentant terrorist group” and warned that “all options are on the table right now.”

That’s diplomatic code for: war is coming.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 News, Washington may be preparing to give Israel the “green light” to resume “operations.” Israel is already considering expanding the “Yellow Line” - a boundary that has kept roughly 60% of Gaza under full Israeli military control throughout the ceasefire. Gaza residents say this expansion is already happening on the ground.

The breakdown centers on disarmament. Israel insists Hamas must give up its weapons as part of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Hamas refuses, arguing that Israel is violating the original ceasefire agreement by failing to meet humanitarian commitments and continuing military strikes.

At least 846 people - many of them women and children - have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began on October 10, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel reports five of its soldiers have died in the same period.

Palestinian officials told the BBC that negotiations in Cairo have completely stalled. Israel wants to skip ahead to phase two of Trump’s plan, which focuses on disarmament, before finishing phase one obligations. Hamas wants Israeli shelling to stop, more humanitarian aid, housing units, and expanded access through Egypt’s Rafah Crossing.

Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace, laid out a detailed disarmament plan in March requiring Hamas to hand over rockets, explosives, and assault rifles. He warned that refusal could trigger a return to full-scale war.

This week, Mladenov told Israel’s i24 news that international donors won’t fund Gaza’s reconstruction unless weapons are decommissioned. “There is no return to war,” he said - meaning there’s no reconstruction without disarmament.

For Gaza’s 2.3 million displaced residents, the message is terrifying. One mother in Gaza City, speaking anonymously, pleaded: “Honestly, I say enough war. We hope that the war doesn’t resume. Let people live. We are exhausted.”

As regional mediators Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey pressure Hamas to move on weapons, the window for saving the ceasefire is closing fast.