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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/world/middleeast/gaza-israel-hamas-cease-fire.html
As Hamas Sows Fear in Gaza, the Western Appetite for Involvement in Demilitarization Is Decreasing
(New York Times) David M. Halbfinger - Two Israeli soldiers were killed and another was wounded when Palestinian militants launched an anti-tank missile at an army vehicle in Rafah on Sunday, the Israeli military said. Israel called it a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas officials were quick to disavow the attack. Hamas distanced itself from the Rafah attack, even divulging that it had lost contact with its fighters in Rafah in March and did not know whether any of them were still alive. That admission laid bare the ceasefire's fragility: If Hamas is indeed unable to control one of its fighting units, it may be unable to fully enforce its side of the ceasefire, making it less likely that Israel will fully withdraw. The return of all the living hostages has also freed the Israeli military to retaliate against Hamas harder, whenever and wherever it chooses to strike, with no more fear of harming its own citizens, said Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence who now leads the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Hayman said that Hamas was trying to sow fear and reestablish its dominance in Gaza, pointing to the executions by Hamas militants of eight rivals on a crowded Gaza City street last week. "By doing that, they're stronger, and it creates much more difficulties when you're trying to demilitarize them. The appetite by Arab or Western countries to be deeply involved in demilitarization is decreasing by the hour."