By aimodels24 @Adobe Stock
“All Hell IS Gonna Break Out”
Seventy or so hostages who remain in confinement under Hamas. As reports trickle out on the abhorrent treatment of those hostages, who have been denied medical care and adequate food, the terrorist group seems intent on testing President Donald Trump’s patience. Hamas is postponing hostage releases indefinitely due to “phony claims” that Israel violated the cease-fire agreement. What is clear is that the dynamics today have changed, and “all bets are off.”
How has Donald Trump responded? By throwing down the gauntlet, reports Philip Klein in NRO.
If Hamas does not release the hostages by noon on Saturday, (Trump) now says, “all hell is gonna break out.”
Trump, critically, is not saying that Hamas has to agree to release the next batch of a few hostages under the current cease-fire agreement. No, he is saying all of the roughly 70 of them who still remain (a mix of those dead and alive). He declared, “Not in dribs and drabs — not two, and one, and three, and four, and two.”
What “hell” means is still unknown. One option would be allowing Israel to take the gloves off against Hamas.
Whatever the meaning of “hell” is, there’s little doubt from Trump’s comments that he has determined that a deal in which hostages are released sporadically, a few a week, allowing Hamas to play games, is a rotten one. Based on his comments yesterday, he was moved by the images of the emaciated hostages who were released over the weekend, and he will no longer confine himself to the Biden framework.
President Joe Biden’s muddled message put lives at risk and prolonged the war. Sometimes, he claimed he supported Israel. Others he played into Hamas’s hands by chastising Israel for its conduct of the war., continues Mr. Klein.
… Hamas always believed that it could use Biden to pressure Israel into more concessions. Now, that dynamic has been replaced. Trump is saying if Hamas doesn’t turn over the hostages, Israel will get to take the gloves off with full American backing.
Then, there is the tricky position Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself in. “Bring ’em home” and “Destroy Hamas” are at odds with each other. The dream (unfulfilled) always was to destroy Hamas, which would result in bringing the hostages home. Alas, as Mr. Klein points out, this has proven difficult in an urban warfare scenario with hostages spread out — kept within a vast network of tunnels, in civilian apartment buildings, and even in U.N. facilities. “On the other end of the spectrum, prioritizing the release of hostages over all other war aims risks allowing Hamas to remain in power as part of some final cease-fire deal.”
Trump recognizes this must reach its natural end: presenting a challenge to Hamas as well as to Netanyahu. Will Netanyahu get the green light to handle Hamas, denied to him since 7 October?
… it comes with the risk that Hamas, seeing any path to a negotiated settlement cut off, will begin shooting ISIS-style execution videos of the hostages.
Unlikely but possible, Hamas could simply release some hostages over the weekend, claiming it is abiding by the cease-fire agreement that was signed with Israel. That would put pressure on Netanyahu to keep the cease-fire at least until the current six-week phase expires.
Finally, after 16 long months, the dynamics have changed.
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