By NY Post Editorial Board

Unable, at least for now, to slake its bloodthirst by killing Israelis, Hamas is solidifying its brutal control over the hostages it still holds — the people of Gaza.

The fundamentalist monsters are reestablishing their reign of terror across the Gaza Strip, setting up a police state with prisons and detention centers in the same schools and hospitals they used to store munitions, manage communications and fire missiles.

It was all to be expected: In the first week of the ceasefire with Israel, Hamas dragged local enemies into the streets, labeled them “collaborators,” and shot or hanged them publicly to let everyone know who’s in charge.

Hamas can’t invade or bomb Israel right now, so it’s using the ceasefire to show the Palestinian people that it’s just as ruthless as ever.

And none of the Westerners who spent the war screaming “genocide” say a word, because that would mean admitting to the world that Hamas was always the combatant with total disregard for Palestinian life.

Hamas leadership knew perfectly well that perpetrating the heinous Oct. 7, 2023 attack would provoke Israel into a massive response.

Hamas knew this would result in civilian casualties.

That’s why the terrorists wove their military infrastructure into the daily life of civilian Gaza.

Even most tyrants want to protect their people, but Hamas views Palestinian lives as precious only when their sacrifice serves its propaganda purposes.

That’s why the terrorists wove their military infrastructure into the daily life of civilian Gaza.

That’s why, handed billions in international humanitarian aid, Hamas never spent a dime building civilian bomb shelters.

Nor did it invite Palestinian children and their mothers to shelter in its hardened tunnel system when the bombs began to fall.

Those women and children were worth infinitely more as “martyrs” than as living people.