Israel rejoices, Hamas turns the knife inward
It's not hard to see who lost the war, and who started it. There is much work to do as Trump enjoys the spotlight and love of Israelis.
They are home.
Since 10/7/23, my wife has had a prayer burden for this man in the photo above, Guy Gilboa-Dalal. As other hostages had been released in a previous cease-fire, Guy was not among them. As other hostages were reported dead, Guy’s name was not listed. I woke my wife up this morning very early to tell her he is now home in Israel. We don’t know Guy or his family. We do know he is 24 years old and was taken hostage from the Nova Music Festival, along with 43 others. Guy’s brother Gal escaped alive, while 360 others were slaughtered by Hamas.
Now Guy is home, one of the first 20 released by Hamas under the first phase of the peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump, and approved by both the Israeli Knesset and Hamas. According to the New York Times, citing the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a total of 22 hostages are believed to be alive or their circumstances are unknown. Among the living, there are no women or girls remaining.
All of Israel is rejoicing, even those who have publicly despised Trump are joining in thanking him for his effort and success in bringing all the hostages home. A giant “Thank You” is painted across the beach in Tel Aviv with the words “Home” in English and Hebrew and the unmistakeable profile of the U.S. president. Trump’s unconventional diplomacy, and personal pressure on all parties, plus his dogged pursuit of a very difficult goal have earned him “palpable love” in Israel.
Trump will address the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, this morning, which will certainly be broadcast nationwide and heard in Gaza and the West Bank. Asked by a reporter if he believed the war was over, Trump replied, “Yes, as far as I’m concerned, yes.”
But the war is not officially over. This is a cease-fire, and the IDF remains vigilant, pulled back to its agreed-upon lines. After all hostages and remains have been returned, the next phase begins negotiations in earnest. The thorny issues of who will govern Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament, “international stabilization force” status, and a full withdrawal of IDF forces, which now remain in control of over 50 percent of Gaza, are still largely up in the air. Though the 20 point plan addresses these items, there are hundreds of details that will require agreement and trust.
Here are a couple of things that this current cease-fire, and hopefully a lasting end to the hostilities, has illuminated, lest you believe much of the competing propaganda and outright fabrications pinging around the Internet. First, Hamas has lost the war. Any outcome that includes return of all hostages while the IDF still maintains control of a large swath of Gaza, means Hamas has lost. It is not an unconditional surrender, nor is it the abominable ethnic cleansing that some Israeli politicians have advocated. But it is a real sign that Hamas, as a force that can stand up to Israel, is done—at least for this moment.
No living hostages, as of this writing, remain in Hamas captivity. The biggest—only—bargaining chip that Hamas has dealing with Israel, the enemy it exists to destroy, has been released. In return, Hamas will get over a thousand of its fighters and others who have been locked up by Israel for crimes including murder and terrorism. But this has never been their goal and is not their goal now. The goal of Hamas is to keep the hostages, continue to lob rockets into Israel, and kill Israelis and Jews.
Hamas has lost this war.
The other thing is that Hamas started the war. It’s been casually reported many times, lately even by CNN, that “Israel launched its war in Gaza.” Jonah Goldberg called them out on this last week: “FWIW, I’m literally in a CNN studio right now. I’m a CNN contributor. The first paragraph of this CNN story is just wrong. As a factual, legal, and moral matter, Hamas started the war in Gaza. The giveaway was when they invaded Israel and raped, murdered, and kidnapped a bunch of people.”
Israel did not start the war. As one of the members of the Knesset is now saying while welcoming President Trump, the IDF has fought in “unimaginable” conditions, dealing with technical, urban, and humanitarian issues beyond practically any military in history over the last two years. While I have called out Israel, along with others, in the past for some overuse of 2,000 pound “dumb” bombs, and heavy-handed use of massive ordnance, no military has taken such care to protect civilians of its enemy, while the enemy itself carelessly and intentionally places those civilians in harm’s way.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas executed a barbaric plan, killing over 1,200 Israelis and taking over 200 hostage. Whatever Hamas expected to happen, in their fantasies of winning a Jew-free land “from the river to the sea,” their dreams were shattered by the years of preparation, intelligence, and military skill of the IDF.
Hamas started this war.
As I write this, President Trump is addressing the Knesset, wishing Israel peace “for eternity,” thanking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his envoy Steve Witkoff. One of the Knesset members was expelled from the chamber after a brief interruption. “That was very efficient,” Trump quipped, barely losing his train of thought.
While Israel celebrates, Hamas turns the knife inward. In the Tel al-Hawa section of Gaza City, Hamas sent 300 armed men to execute members of the Dughmush clan. According to one report online, Hamas used ambulances to infiltrate the Dughmush clan territory. Hamas claims the Dughmush clan collaborated with Israel.
Hamas has mobilized 7,000 security forces to “reassert control over areas of Gaza recently vacated by Israeli troops,” the BBC reported. This number is likely a very large percentage of the remaining organized forces under Hamas control. They are now being turned inward to find and execute anyone who is suspected of “collaboration,” meaning any hint of opposition to Hamas.
This is how Hamas took control of Gaza back in 2006, and it’s how Hamas always reacts when it has been damaged. Contrast that in Israel, where large scale protests against the war, against Netanyahu, has taken place largely without any violence at all, certainly not without rounding up and executing dissidents. Hamas does not brook any disagreement, at pain of death.
(Cut back to Trump: he’s talking about Hillary Clinton, and how he hates war, but will win war without being politically correct. He’s rogue, off script, or maybe this is his script.)
Israel has much to rejoice, and Gazans should also rejoice, because the war is over and they can go back to building their lives. But Gazans cannot rejoice because they are under the boot of Hamas. The next phase of Trump’s plan is the key to the war ending and the cease-fire lasting. Hamas must be disarmed. Israel cannot do this since that means more war.
Whatever force is deployed to Gaza will have to disarm Hamas and depose it by force. Hamas will fight, and kill its own people (Gazans) to stay in power. The knife will turn inward.
Israel is rejoicing, but Hamas has lost. Gaza should rejoice, but Hamas must be removed. This is the task that lies before the Middle East. After the applause Trump is enjoying, there is a lot of real work to do.
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Steve,
Great headline and realistic article. The idea of Hamas sitting at the table to decide its future in political role is a nightmare. It is a terrorist organization whose vision of a non existent Israel has never changed. They have lost this battle, but the Arabic word for cease fire means, "pause and regroup." If Gaza is to achieve the vision Trump and the Arab and Muslim countries envision, peace and prosperity, Hamas must be disarmed by its own neighbors and must never be allowed to "regroup."
Truly a fabulous job by Trump on this one.
As for “lasting peace”, however, we shall see. And this doesn’t detract from praise for Trump in how he has ended the current episode. But history and reality suggest that any hard-won peace since 1948 has had an expiration date.