Israel and Hamas have been negotiating a cease-fire/hostage release deal for many months. Hamas, as is its evil custom, would come close to agreeing to a deal only to move the goalposts and take the deal out of reach.
It was deliberately cruel to hostage families. The tactic was designed to put maximum pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and force a settlement favorable to the terrorists.
When Donald Trump warned a week ago that "all hell would break out" if the hostages being held by Hamas weren't released by his inauguration, most international observers dismissed the threat as typical Trump bombast.
“It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is,” Trump said on January 7.
It didn't sound very "bombastic" to me. It sounded like a statement of fact, although how Trump could cause "all hell to break out" can only be imagined.
At the time, Trump's pick to serve as special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was optimistic.
“It’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation, and so hopefully it’ll all work out, and we’ll save some lives,” Witkoff told CNN.
The New York Times is reporting that there has been significant progress in the last 48 hours to get a ceasefire deal and a hostage release agreement.
Israel and Hamas appeared close to an agreement to declare a cease-fire in Gaza and release hostages held there after over 15 months of war, the Qatari government said on Tuesday.
Mediators had “managed to minimize a lot of the disagreements between both parties,” Majed al-Ansari, the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters. The talks on Tuesday were focused on “the final details of reaching an agreement,” he said.
There's more at work than just Trump's cryptic warning, of course. Israel has smashed Hamas to smithereens, destroying most of its weapons and thousands of its fighters. More importantly, it has destroyed its leadership cadres, making it very difficult for the terrorists to rebuild their organization. Also, Hamas allies Iran and Hezbollah have been vastly weakened.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari says the two sides are agonizingly close to a deal.
“We believe that we are at the final stages, but until we have an announcement — there will be no announcement,” said al-Ansari.
Israeli officials told reporters Monday night that they believed they were close to reaching an agreement. That optimism was echoed by Mr. Biden in a speech in which he declared that the cease-fire and hostage deal was on “the brink” of “finally coming to fruition.”
William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, and Brett McGurk, a senior White House official, have crisscrossed the Middle East, pressing for a breakthrough in the talks. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s pick for Middle East envoy, has also made trips to Qatar and Israel, meeting with top officials there.
Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz warned Hamas on ABC's "This Week" that terms for a deal will only get worse for them after Trump takes office.
“Let’s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration because President Trump is serious,” Waltz said.
“Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue to have this kind of hostage diplomacy,” Waltz added.
Hamas could still pull a stunt like Lucy pulling the football away as Charlie Brown attempts to kick it. But if it waits to deal with Trump instead of Biden, it will not likely improve its position.
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