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Hamas leverages regional instability to delay disarmament, consolidate Gaza control, sources say
According to Israeli security sources and media reports, Hamas is using regional instability in Lebanon and Iran to delay disarmament commitments and strengthen its hold on Gaza, including tax collection, recruitment, and control of goods. The group has reportedly rejected a US-led peace plan, and senior officials have relocated from Qatar to Turkey.
Recent reports from Israeli media and security officials paint a picture of Hamas using the current regional focus on Lebanon and Iran to delay disarmament and solidify its control over the Gaza Strip. Two separate reports from The Jerusalem Post, citing security sources and an intelligence document seen by N12 News, describe a deliberate strategy by Hamas to exploit the diversion of international attention.
Key Claims
Hamas is using regional instability to avoid disarmament compromises. According to a security establishment source quoted by The Jerusalem Post on April 16, 2026, Hamas is leveraging the instability in southern Lebanon and Iran to avoid advancing disarmament compromises and to gain political force in Gaza.
Hamas is taking advantage of Israel's focus on Hezbollah and the US focus on Iran. The same source told the Post that Hamas is using Israel's focus on the Hezbollah situation and the US focus on the Iranian front to buy time and avoid progress on the political front.
Hamas is collecting taxes, recruiting activists, and controlling goods entering Gaza. The security source outlined these as the main strategies of the Hamas leadership, a claim that was echoed in an intelligence document cited by N12 News on April 24, 2026, which said Hamas is "taking control of goods entering the Gaza Strip" and accelerating the recruitment of new fighters.
Hamas rejected the US-led Board of Peace's disarmament plan. A source told The Jerusalem Post on April 16 that Hamas rejected the plan and asked for modifications. The plan, expected to take 6 to 8 months, would, according to the source, serve Hamas's strategy of buying time, as Israeli and US midterm elections would occur during that period.
Senior Hamas officials left Qatar for Turkey and other countries. According to a report from Walla, most senior Hamas officials left Qatar after receiving "signals" that it was advisable for them to leave. This development was carried by a single outlet and has not been independently verified.
Hamas is recovering its military and civilian hold on Gaza during the ceasefire. The intelligence document cited by N12 News states that Hamas is "significantly recovering its capabilities under the cover of the ceasefire," strengthening its military and civilian control while global attention is directed elsewhere.
Security officials warned Gaza will return to 'square one' without full disarmament. Security officials told N12 News that without fully disarming and demilitarizing Hamas, the situation in Gaza will return to "square one," referencing the period before the October 7, 2023, attack.
Perspectives
The reports, all from Israeli sources, present a uniformly concerned assessment of Hamas's intentions and capabilities. The Jerusalem Post, with its center-right editorial line, frames the development as a security imperative for Israel, emphasizing the need for disarmament. The N12 News report, based on an intelligence document, similarly warns of a deteriorating situation.
No countervailing perspectives from Hamas or other regional actors are included in the provided material. The claims of Hamas's strategy are based on unnamed security sources and an intelligence document, and while they are consistent, they remain unverified from independent or adversarial sources.
How this outlet told it
Jerusalem Post
Framing: Hamas using instability to avoid disarmament — critical
Facts Included:
Hamas is using instability in southern Lebanon and Iran to avoid disarmament compromises
Hamas is taking advantage of Israel's focus on Hezbollah and the US focus on Iran
Hamas is collecting taxes, recruiting activists, and controlling goods entering Gaza
Hamas rejected the US-led Board of Peace's disarmament plan
Senior Hamas officials left Qatar for Turkey and other countries
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimHamas is using instability in southern Lebanon and Iran to avoid disarmament compromises and gain political force in Gaza.