CENTCOM Chief Urges Hamas to End Violence, Backs Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a rare and strongly worded appeal on Wednesday, calling on Hamas to immediately cease its use of violence against civilians in Gaza and to fully comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace framework.

In a statement published on CENTCOM’s official X page, Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, directly addressed the ongoing unrest across the war-torn enclave. “We strongly urge Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza — in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF behind the Yellow Line,” Cooper said.

Statement from Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander: pic.twitter.com/9nhijzThvb

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 15, 2025

“This is an historic opportunity for peace,” he added. “Hamas should seize it by fully standing down, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay. We have conveyed our concerns to the mediators who agreed to work with us to enforce the peace and protect innocent Gaza civilians. We remain highly optimistic for the future of peace in the region.”

The U.S. statement came as Gaza witnessed a new wave of internal violence and summary executions, exposing the deep fractures within the strip even after the guns of war had largely fallen silent.

On Tuesday, Hamas intensified its internal crackdown, executing a group of men it accused of collaborating with Israel, just as Washington and its allies hailed progress in implementing the Trump peace plan. According to footage released by Hamas’s official media, eight blindfolded men were shot dead in public, accused of acting as informants for Israeli intelligence.

The chilling video, reportedly filmed Monday evening, showed the men kneeling in a line before being executed by armed militants. Hamas described them as “collaborators and outlaws.”

The executions came amid armed clashes between Hamas’s internal security forces and rival Palestinian clans across multiple neighborhoods, including Shujaiya near the “Yellow Line,” the informal boundary dividing areas controlled by Hamas and zones secured by Israeli forces under the U.S.-brokered truce.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos and fear. A Gaza resident named Yahya told AFP, “Intense clashes broke out — and are still ongoing at the moment — as part of efforts to eliminate collaborators.” Another witness, identified as Mohammed, reported hearing “gunfire and explosions for hours” as Hamas forces fought members of the Hilles family, one of the most powerful clans in Gaza.

A Palestinian security official confirmed to AFP that Hamas’s Deterrence Force was carrying out “field operations to ensure security and stability,” adding, “There will be no place for outlaws or those who threaten the safety of citizens.”

The internal violence coincided with a major diplomatic milestone in the implementation of Trump’s ceasefire plan. On Tuesday, the Israeli army confirmed the transfer of the remains of four additional hostages via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), following Monday’s handover of four other bodies and the release of the final 20 surviving captives held by Hamas.

These developments marked the fulfillment of one of the central conditions of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, which requires Hamas to release all hostages — living or deceased — as part of a phased normalization and demilitarization process.

The Israeli army identified two of the deceased as Guy Iluz, an Israeli citizen, and Bipin Joshi, a Nepali agriculture student. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum later confirmed the identities of the other two victims as Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Peretz, an Israeli officer.

“Now we can finally bring closure to the nightmare that began over two years ago, and give Yossi the dignified and loving burial he deserves,” said Sharabi’s wife, Nira Sharabi, in a statement issued by the forum.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), 24 additional bodies are still to be repatriated under the terms of the truce.

Following his return from the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, where over twenty world leaders formally endorsed his Gaza peace framework, President Trump praised the ceasefire as “a new beginning for peace in the Middle East.”

Standing beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Trump said the United States would support the reconstruction of Gaza only if Hamas “completely disarms.” Later, speaking to reporters at the White House, he issued a stark warning: “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them — and it will happen quickly, and perhaps violently.”

The Trump peace plan calls for the complete demilitarization of Gaza and explicitly excludes Hamas from any future governing authority. Members of the organization who voluntarily surrender their weapons will receive amnesty, while those who refuse face international sanctions and potential prosecution under a joint U.S.-U.N. enforcement mechanism.

Despite the ceasefire, daily life in Gaza remains marked by tension and hardship. In Deir al-Balah, 34-year-old Abu Fadi al-Banna told AFP that the return of Hamas police patrols brought a measure of order. “After the war ended and the police spread out in the streets, we started to feel safe,” he said. “They began organizing traffic and clearing the markets, removing the street vendors who were blocking the roads. We felt protected from thugs and thieves.”

In Khan Yunis, 40-year-old Hamdiya Shammiya, displaced from northern Gaza, described a fragile calm. “Thank God the war is finally over. We’ve started to breathe a little,” she said. “Our lives now need patience, order, and safety. We’ve already noticed a bit of improvement.”

Yet chaos erupted again Tuesday when humanitarian aid convoys entered the southern Strip. Witnesses described crowds looting food shipments, with some parcels trampled in the scramble for supplies — a grim reminder of Gaza’s humanitarian desperation despite the end of active hostilities.

“For the people of Gaza, the end of war has not yet brought peace,” one aid worker told AFP. “The fighting may have stopped, but survival is still a daily battle.”

As Israel mourns its dead and Gaza buries its accused, the fragile truce teeters between calm and collapse. CENTCOM’s direct involvement, coupled with Trump’s personal diplomacy, marks a new phase of U.S. engagement in Gaza — one where Washington seeks to enforce not only the cessation of violence but also a permanent disarmament of Hamas.

Admiral Cooper’s statement underscores the delicate reality of the post-war landscape: a ceasefire without trust, a peace plan without certainty, and a region where even optimism is shadowed by the lingering echoes of war.