Disarming the Group Will Require Arab and Muslim Forces—and Strong American Leadership
Jonathan Panikoff
Hamas militants carrying a deceased hostage in Gaza, October 2025 Ramadan Abed / ReutersJONATHAN PANIKOFF is Director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council. From 2015 to 2020, he was Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council.More by Jonathan Panikoff
In the weeks since the October 8 cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, establishing and maintaining security in Gaza has become a crucial test. Already in the days after the deal was announced, Hamas began a campaign of violent retribution against rival groups as it sought to reconsolidate control over areas Israel had vacated. On October 19, the killing of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Rafah prompted Israeli airstrikes. And on October 28, the killing of another IDF soldier and Hamas’s continued delay in returning the bodies of hostages caused Israel to strike dozens of targets across Gaza, killing more than one hundred people and raising concerns that the deal itself might collapse.
If Hamas is allowed to reassert its influence and Israel is forced to continue to intervene at this or even larger scale, the cease-fire may become yet another temporary interlude in an unending conflict. The security challenge was anticipated in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which specifically calls for the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force for Gaza. Yet the time required to carry out complex negotiations on the implementation of these goals has created a vacuum that will worsen the longer action is delayed or stalled.
In one promising step, the United States opened the Civil-Military Coordination Center, a new CENTCOM-led headquarters, on October 17. Located about 15 miles east of Ashkelon, the CMCC will provide a base for some 200 U.S. service members who have been sent to support the cease-fire and could play a key role in overseeing the international stabilization force. For legitimacy in Gaza, the ISF will need to be staffed by troops from Arab and Muslim countries, but strong U.S. leadership will be crucial. Alongside the CMCC, Washington must leverage other resources it has in the region, including the U.S. military’s work with Israeli and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
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