Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Palestinian terror groups have rejected US-backed United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted on November 17, which welcomes the establishment of a "Board of Peace" and a temporary "International Stabilization Force" in the Gaza Strip. The resolution is based on US President Donald J. Trump's 20-point peace plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip, which erupted in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel.
On that day, Hamas terrorists and their supporters murdered 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and wounded thousands more. Another 251 were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where the remains of three hostages – two Israelis and a Thai – are still being held.
Hamas claims it agreed only to the first phase of Trump's plan, which calls for an end to the war and the release of all the hostages – alive and deceased – within 72 hours. That was on October 9, 2025; by now, weeks have passed.
Recently, the terror group's leaders said that they never agreed to the remaining phases of the plan, which require the armed groups to lay down their weapons and accept the deployment of an international force as well as the establishment of a temporary international governing body in the Gaza Strip.
By rejecting UN Security Council Resolution 2803, the Palestinian terror groups are making it unmistakably clear that they have no intention of disarming or allowing international figures such as Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to play any role in the governance of the Gaza Strip.
The only reason the terror groups agreed to the first phase of Trump's plan was so that the war would end and they could maintain their rule over the Gaza Strip.
The terror groups' rejection of the UNSC resolution is a direct challenge not only to the Trump administration, but also to several Arab and Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, as well as the Palestinian Authority, which supported the US-sponsored resolution. It now remains to be seen how the Trump administration and these Arab and Islamic countries will respond to the terror group's recalcitrance.
Unlike the US administration, Hamas and the other terror groups do not see Trump's proposals as a peace plan. Instead, they view it as another temporary ceasefire with Israel.
The main reason the terror groups oppose the presence of international forces or an international governing body inside the Gaza Strip is evidently that they fear this coalition would obstruct their plan to pursue Jihad (holy war) against Israel. For them, the October 7 massacre was just another phase in their Jihad to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.
A statement issued last year by several Muslim scholars read:
"Contemporary Jihad takes many forms, allowing Muslims to fulfill their religious duty in more than one way. This includes armed Jihad and expanding its scope wherever the enemy expands. Indeed, it is obligatory to preempt the enemy in arenas where they intend to expand their operations, and to surprise them before they take the initiative. It also includes supporting the mujahideen [Jihad warriors] with money, weapons, and that they need in their blessed Jihad; sponsoring the families of mujahideen, martyrs, prisoners, and those in need."
What, then, did Hamas and the other Palestinian terror groups say about the UN resolution?
"The resolution does not meet the political and humanitarian demands and rights of our Palestinian people," Hamas announced in a statement. "The resolution imposes an international trusteeship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which is rejected by our people and factions."
Referring to the clause regarding the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Hamas added:
"Resisting the [Israeli] occupation by all means is a legitimate right guaranteed by international laws and conventions. Any discussion on the issue of the weapons must remain an internal national matter."
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, remarked in response to the resolution:
"We reject the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council because it constitutes an international trusteeship over the Gaza Strip, which is something that all components of our people and factions reject. Our people's right to resist the [Israeli] occupation by all legitimate means is a right guaranteed by international law, and the resistance's weapons constitute a guarantee of this right. Any assignment of an international force to tasks that include disarming the resistance transforms it from a neutral party into a partner in implementing the occupation's agenda."
The last part of the PIJ statement is actually a direct threat to launch terror attacks against members of the proposed International Stabilization Force in the Gaza Strip.
Fayez Abu Shamala, a pro-Hamas Gaza academic, was even more blunt about the intention to target members of the international force:
"According to my personal assessment, the Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza will deal with the American stabilization force just as the Afghan mujahideen dealt with the US forces in 2001, and just as the Iraqi insurgents dealt with the invading American forces in 2003, and just as the resistance dealt with the US Embassy in Lebanon in 1984. The stabilization force will be targeted by the [Palestinian] insurgents."
The Palestinian terror groups unfortunately seem committed to thwarting Trump's peace plan and bringing more death and destruction on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
The only plan the Palestinian terror groups apparently will accept is one that legitimizes their Jihad and allows them to rearm, regroup and prepare for another October 7-style attack on Israel. To that end, just this year, Iran, despite sanctions, has already managed to smuggle $1 billion to Hamas.
That is why, even if the international troops sent to the Gaza Strip are granted a clear mandate to use force to disarm the terror groups and dismantle their military infrastructure, not one of them will use it. No one, after all, wants to get shot at, especially when, as the world has seen for years with UN forces in Lebanon, it is so much easier to look the other way, or even be rewarded for helping a terror group reconstruct its power.
Even with such a mandate, Hamas and its captive subjects in the Gaza Strip will steadfastly continue to serve as one of the largest bases for Iranian-backed Islamist terrorists in the Middle East.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
