LOS ANGELES.–Hamas threatened to kill the remaining hostages if 75-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not adhere to the ceasefire agreement, calling for Phase 2, requiring Israel to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip. President Donald Trump warned Hamas again to either release the remaining hostages or have “hell to pay” with a new escalation in fighting. Trump certainly knows that Hamas doesn’t bend to threats of annihilation because they’ve already be nearly wiped out during their two-year war with Israel. Hamas has nothing left other that some militants living underground in the tunnel system where they continue to keep the remaining hostages, only 24 out of 60 remaining are presumed still alive. To Hamas, the hostages are the only remaining leverage for a failed organization that gambled one too many times and got burned with Israel.
When Hamas invaded Israel in the Oct. 7, 2023 surprise attack that killed 1,200, taking 251 hostages, Hamas boasted how easy it was to conquer Israel. Hamas’s late leader Yahya Sinwar planned the surprise attack for over a year, deceiving Israel’s Mossad security service, something still under investigation for how Hamas pulled it off. Less than two years into the war, most of Hamas’s senior leadership has been killed, with only a handful of elders remaining in Qatar and other places to claim victory over the Zionist State. When it comes to Hamas’s future, a Gaza reconstruction plan hashed out in Cairo, said Hamas would not be involved in Gaza’s reconstruction. No comment has been made from Hamas knowing they won’t be part of ruling the Gaza Strip in the future. Trump’s recent posts prompted Hamas propagandists to call it “bullying, stalling and reckless aggression.”
Hamas only has the remaining 24 living hostages left for leverage, something Trump rejects because he knows Hamas views them as cannon fodder. “The enemy’s leadership is trying to evade the agreement as the Prime Minister prioritizes political interests over the lives of his captives. The occupier continues to seek an American green light to escalate its aggression against our people,” said Abu Ubaida, military spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades. Ubaida talks like Hamas has all the leverage to extort concessions from the U.S. and Israel. Already written out of Gaza’s future, Hamas has no place except as a terrorist organization working behind the scenes to sabotage Israel wherever possible. When it comes to running a physical territory, Hamas’s days are numbered. Only its propaganda wing can only pretend the terrorist group still has any significance.
Hamas was formed in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as a military enforcement wing for Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO]. Arafat would use Hamas for suicide bombing and other terrorist acts when Israel refused to make enough concessions. “Israeli threats of war will bring them nothing but failure and will not lead to the release of their captives. We warn the families of Israeli captives that we still hold proof of life for those who remain alive. We are fully prepared for all possible scenarios. An escalation of aggression against our people will result in the killing of enemy captives,” Hamas said, provoking Trump. As far as Trump is concerned, he’s ready to give Netanyahu to go ahead to finish off Hamas if that’s possible. Trump told Hamas he’s giving Israel everything they need to finish off the terrorist group in Gaza.
Trump knows that finishing off remaining pockets of terrorist hiding out in Gaza’s tunnels won’t be easy. It would be far better for Trump to work with other Arab states, like Egypt and Qatar, to find exile arrangements for remaining Hamas terrorists. “I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Instead of intimidating what’s left of Hamas terrorists, finding an exile arrangement would be a far better way to expedite the rebuilding process in Gaza. As long as Hamas terrorists remain in tunnels, it’s going to be difficult to start the monumental rebuild necessary to return Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants to a respectable lifestyle with modern civilized amenities. More war only delays the process of beginning the costly and lengthy process of rebuilding Gaza.
Every terrorist group has its price and certainly what’s left in the tunnels of Hamas leadership could be easily bought out. Hamas had a long history in Gaza of looting prior rebuilding cash to make millionaire and billionaires out of Hamas leadership. Before Hamas leader in exile Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran July 31, 2024, he was worth an estimated $4 billion. Senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, now living in Qatar but heavily involved in negotiations in Cairo and Doha, is also worth $4 billion. Well, how did that happen, other than by looking Gaza’s coffers for years? “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!” Trump said on Truth social. But everyone knows that Hamas is a desperate terror organization that needs to find a face-saving way out of Gaza. Paying off remaining Hamas terrorists is preferable to more war.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
