Yet, as Israel National News has frequently noted, the agreement has been under constant threat from Hamas’s refusal to fully demilitarize and its efforts to retain control over smuggling routes and weapons caches. American intelligence agencies and Israeli defense sources have repeatedly warned that Hamas factions — particularly those loyal to the organization’s hardline military command — have been rearming and regrouping under the cover of the ceasefire.

Thursday’s statement suggests that these activities may now have escalated to a point where a new offensive could be imminent — not necessarily against Israeli forces, but against rival Palestinian factions and civilians viewed as collaborating with the internationally supervised reconstruction process.

“This is the pattern we’ve seen before,” a former Israeli intelligence officer told INN. “When Hamas feels it’s losing control — politically or financially — it seeks to reassert dominance through violence. And now that U.S.-backed reconstruction and local governance efforts are taking root, Hamas fears losing its grip.”

The guarantor nations of the Gaza agreement — the United States, Egypt, and Qatar — were briefed on the intelligence earlier this week, according to Israel National News. Egyptian officials reportedly confirmed that they, too, have received indications of increased Hamas activity in southern Gaza, including the movement of armed units and the stockpiling of munitions in densely populated areas.

Diplomatic sources told INN that the guarantors have jointly conveyed to Hamas, through mediators, that any attack targeting civilians would “void the ceasefire framework entirely” and trigger a collective response. The message, relayed via the Egyptian intelligence service and Qatari envoys, reportedly warned that “Gaza’s reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and political normalization will immediately halt if violence resumes.”

The U.S. State Department’s statement echoed this unified approach, stressing the guarantors’ shared determination to “maintain calm on the ground and advance peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza and the region as a whole.”

As the INN report noted, the Trump administration’s tone reflects a growing resolve to prevent Hamas from derailing a fragile process that has, for the first time in years, reduced the level of active hostilities between Israel and Gaza. For Washington, the stakes are strategic as well as humanitarian. A renewed outbreak of violence could undermine U.S.-brokered regional normalization efforts, destabilize Egypt’s border region, and embolden Iranian-backed militias across the Middle East.

“The credibility of the peace framework depends on enforcement,” said Dr. Aaron Lerner, a Middle East policy analyst quoted in the Israel National News report. “If Hamas violates the ceasefire and the international community fails to respond, it will send a message that terrorism can dictate terms again — and that would undo months of quiet diplomacy.”

Lerner also noted that the American warning appears to align closely with Israeli security assessments, which have identified a pattern of Hamas using temporary calm to regroup and rearm. “Israel has been cautious not to break the ceasefire unilaterally,” he told INN, “but if Hamas initiates an attack, it will invite not just U.S. condemnation but potentially direct military consequences.”

The State Department’s statement made clear that Washington’s overriding concern remains the safety of Gaza’s civilian population — a population that has borne the brunt of Hamas’s tactics.

“The United States and the other guarantors remain resolute in our commitment to ensuring the safety of civilians,” the statement concluded. “We will maintain calm on the ground and advance peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza and the region as a whole.”

That language, observers told Israel National News, is a deliberate signal to both Hamas and Gazans themselves: that the international community is watching closely and is prepared to act if the ceasefire — which has allowed humanitarian aid, infrastructure rebuilding, and medical relief to resume — is threatened.

For now, the situation in Gaza remains tense but static. Reports from INN’s correspondents indicate heightened alertness among local residents, who fear renewed fighting could once again plunge the territory into chaos. Aid groups have warned that even the rumor of conflict could disrupt ongoing reconstruction work and delay the delivery of food and medical supplies.

As one Western diplomat told Israel National News, “This ceasefire was never just about guns going silent. It was about restoring a sense of normal life. If Hamas sabotages that — if it turns on its own people — it will destroy the only chance Gaza has for recovery.”

The coming days will reveal whether Hamas heeds the warning or once again defies the world’s calls for restraint. But as the Israel National News report observed, the U.S. statement represents more than a diplomatic caution: it is a declaration of intent. Washington has made clear that the era of impunity for Hamas’s internal violence is over — and that the protection of Gaza’s civilians, not its militias, is now the guiding principle of American engagement in the region.

If Hamas chooses confrontation over compliance, the cost — politically, economically, and militarily — may be far greater than any fleeting show of defiance. For Gaza’s weary residents, who have endured war, poverty, and political manipulation for too long, the hope remains that this time, the guarantors’ warning will hold firm, and that the fragile peace — however imperfect — will finally have a chance to endure.