Hamas’response to Trump’s plan
Make of this what you will:
Hamas said that it would release all of the hostages in an effort to re-enter negotiations, in a Friday statement. Hamas officials later told international media that it would likely take longer than the 72 hours outlined in the US proposal to release them. …
Hamas gave mediators its response to US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war earlier Friday evening and promised that it would approve transferring the power of the Gaza Strip over to a Palestinian governing body that would be elected “based on Palestinian national consensus and with Arab and Islamic support.”
Marzouk promised the handover of power would come with the transfer of weapons from Hamas to the future Palestinian rulers.
My reaction is this: saying they will release the hostages is a way to encourage the Israeli left to blame Netanyahu for not wanting to release the hostages, if and when the deal falls through. “See, Hamas was willing, and Netanyahu wouldn’t agree!” would be the left’s cry.
Completing any actual deal would depend on the rest of the story; the hostages would just be the beginning. What would this “Palestinian governing body” be? Same old same old, under a different name? It’s not as though the Palestinians are eager to elect some “live and let live” Israel-tolerant group.
Time will tell. But Hamas’ statement is also a delaying tactic, because Trump had given them a Sunday deadline.
Delaying tactic was my first reaction.
Trump plays the stupnagel, or pretends to do (for who can tell through the multifold layers of irony?): https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1974224561982812211
I notice of course that the Hamas announcement came only after Shabbat had begun in Israel and that nation is again rendered incapable of answering with its full voice.
If taken seriously I’m inclined to think Trump’s kneejerk is unwise, but what do I know? I advocate stepped up bombing as a more appropriate rejoinder.
I agree with P J O’Rourke, he named a chapter devoted to the Mideast called ” God’s Monkey House”.
sdferr:
I think (of course I don’t know) that Trump is trying to get the hostages out first. Then the plan can fall through. I don’t think he’s naive about Hamas.
I’m less inclined to think Trump naive about Hamas than I am to think him naive about the entrenched Israeli left, and hence the room for maneuver a ceasefire puts in their hands. . . and contrarywise ties Netanyahu’s behind his back. But Bibi has proven himself a Houdini-like escape artist more than once these last three years, so perhaps it won’t be as bad as I imagine it might be.
Hamas is not to be trusted in any way. It remains a US-designated TERRORIST group. Its present offer is to release all 48 hostages “both living and dead” but has farmed some of them out to hostage holders it says it does not control and may not be able to contact them to meet Trump’s 72 hour deadline. And it wants its disarmament [weapons and munitions] to be stored in Egypt while maintaining ownership thereof.
Hamas is a sadistic pile of obscene evildoer Muslim thugs. I hope Trump and Hegseth send them all to Muslim paradise [sic] where virgins are said to await them to be raped.
I will believe and trust Hamas when they fully abandon, denounce, the notion of “from the river to the sea”. Everything else is just narrative and positioning.
I was just poured a nice glass of white Pinot noir. I’ll raise the glass to the hope of the failure of this silly peace deal so that Israel can get back to the serious business of destroying Hamas. When they are begging to surrender it will be time to talk terms.
“See, Hamas was willing, and Netanyahu wouldn’t agree!”
No matter what, Hamas and their leftist collaborators will bear false witness against Netanyahu and Israel. Trump’s ‘deal’ falling apart is to be welcomed because it will allow Netanyahu to continue to kill members of Hamas. The more slain, the longer it will take for Islam to renew its monstrous jihad against Israel.
Cicero,
“I hope Trump and Hegseth send them all to Muslim paradise [sic] where virgins are said to await them to be raped.”
A Muslim who at death is in an ‘unclean’ state can never enter paradise. So saith Allah in the ‘sacred’ Qur’an. Contact with any part of a pig, such as pig fat incorporated into gun oil… will do that because that’s what they believe.
FAFO.
@Geoffrey Britain:So saith Allah in the ‘sacred’ Qur’an. Contact with any part of a pig, such as pig fat incorporated into gun oil… will do that because that’s what they believe.
Not true. Muslims do not believe that God gives non-Muslims a cheat code to keep them out of heaven.
With exploding cellphones and super Israeli Mossad, why has Israel not simply assassinated Hamas leadership a long time ago?
“I’ll gladly release hostages Tuesday for a ceasefire today.”
The business about how it will take longer than 72 hours to release them is a tell. They know that, once the hostages are gone, every Hamas operative will be exterminated.
My prediction: There will be no hostage release. Hamas will never surrender its arms voluntarily. Israel will not be allowed to “finish the job.” Have I missed anything?
Hamas will say they will follow thru with the agreement, but then renege.
Hamas can never, ever be trusted.
My guess is that Trump and Israel know this – but still hope some/all of the hostages will be released – and they are just waiting for the right moment for the IDF to finish off Hamas.
Israel’s big mistake was not finishing the job after the Oct 7 Hamas terrorists attack.
It took 10 years to set the beeper operation up
They had a shot at the leadership in qatar and it had moderate success
There is a pattern with Trump. He’ll give the other side all the slack in the world while negotiating.
But if he sees the other side is not negotiating in good faith and just buying time, he sets a deadline and bam! He goes to the next level.
We saw this most particularly with Iran and its nuclear program. Now we are seeing it with Putin.
Hamas better be paying attention to Sunday’s deadline.
I suspect Trump and Netanyahu have already gamed this out and expect Hamas will try to delay and extend negotiations.
FAFO.
The point is to finesse Israeli first defensive reply as if it was they who broke the agreement.
Just had the thought that perhaps if, starting Oct. 8, Israel said for every hostage killed while held by Hamas, 100 or 1000 Palestinian prisoners would be shipped to El Salvador for continued long term confinement, … just maybe they would have been more cooperative.
But of course their history so far is they don’t really care about those people, … and maybe in some sense even themselves if they can claim personal martyrdom. Not the Qatari ensconced group, of course.
R2L:
Hamas would not care, and they would use it for propaganda: see how inhumane Israel is! They also claim that all the Israeli hostages who were killed or died in captivity were killed by Israel.