A ceasefire in Gaza has largely held throughout March 2026 as Israel focuses on renewed conflicts in Iran and Lebanon. However, low-level clashes, other violations of the agreement, and Israeli operations against Hamas have continued as Hamas reasserts its control over parts of the territory.
On March 25, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which facilitates and coordinates humanitarian aid for Gaza, said that it discovered engine oil, a prohibited “dual-use item,” being smuggled to the enclave through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) crates.
“Engine oil is a restricted dual-use item due to its documented exploitation of aid for terror purposes by Hamas. Until a full investigation is undertaken, all UNDP shipments are suspended effective immediately,” COGAT said. At the same time, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said on March 25 that Hamas must decommission its weapons so that Gaza can be rebuilt.
Israel has been engaged in a multi-front regional war that has included daily airstrikes on Iran since February 28 and operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah since March 2. However, Israeli forces have also maintained control over half of Gaza as part of the US-backed ceasefire agreement that has been in place since October. The ceasefire plan moved to a new phase in mid-January and has largely held. Nevertheless, clashes continue in the enclave as officials wait for the latest phase to unfold.
On March 24, Bulgarian politician and diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as the high representative for Gaza, wrote on X that he had briefed the UN Security Council on progress in the territory. “We now have a real opportunity to move from conflict to a structured path toward recovery and stability,” he noted.
Mladenov is working to implement UN Resolution 2803, passed in November 2025, which is intended to enable the US-backed peace plan. His role is to work with the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic committee in Gaza, both of which were established as part of the peace plan.
“I informed the Council that a comprehensive framework for decommissioning and reintegration in Gaza has been developed, endorsed by mediators, and presented to the parties. Serious engagement is underway,” Mladenov added.
The Board of Peace’s plan to disarm Hamas is expected to take place over the next eight months, The Times of Israel reported on March 27. “Gaza will be governed under the principle of one authority, one law, one weapon, whereby only individuals authorized by [the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza] may possess weapons, and all armed factions will cease military activities,” the disarmament plan says.
As the ceasefire plan proceeds, Israeli troops continue to face threats in Gaza. In one incident, a Gazan man approached IDF soldiers with a toddler. “The military said that during questioning, the man — identified as the child’s father — told investigators he was a Hamas operative and admitted he had brought his son with him to serve as a human shield against the soldiers,” Israel’s Ynet noted on March 25. The IDF has eliminated 60 terrorists over the last month in Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reported on March 27.
Low-level clashes have continued in Gaza in the last two weeks of March. The IDF said on March 25 that it had struck a group of Hamas members who were engaged in training. On March 14, the IDF announced that it had eliminated a gunman in Rafah in southern Gaza. Two days later, a Hamas naval commander was killed. On March 18, a Hamas intelligence official was also eliminated. On March 23, the IDF targeted a vehicle in central Gaza that the Israeli military believed was used by terrorists. “Following the identification, the IDF eliminated the armed terrorists in order to remove the threat,” the Israeli military said.
Israeli media has reported that Hamas continues to consolidate power in the half of Gaza that it controls. In the northern part of the territory, in an area outside Hamas’s domain, anti-Hamas militias have also expanded their operations. Meanwhile, the IDF continues to seek and destroy the remaining Hamas tunnels that have been found in the portion of Gaza that it controls.
Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).
Tags: Board of Peace, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Israel Hamas Ceasefire
