The signs are ominous. Hamas has said it is halting the continuation of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel over alleged “violations.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his lack of enthusiasm to progress toward a phase two that would see a permanent ceasefire (which translates to an end to the war) and Hamas parading around Gaza like victors.
His statement on Tuesday night that after security cabinet deliberations, IDF troops were amassing forces inside and outside Gaza, might have been a necessary response to Hamas’s brazen moves. But their implications and his further warning that “if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until the final defeat of Hamas” brought the specter of a return to war and the curtailing of the hostage release to the brink.
Netanyahu’s cabinet might not have been so quick to call Hamas’s bluff if not for US President Donald Trump, who never fails to shoot from the hip. First, he blurted out his half-baked idea for the US to take control of Gaza and most recently issued an ultimatum that if all of the remaining hostages, not just the three slated to be released, were not freed by this Saturday at noon, “all hell will break loose.’
He may think that he’s doing Israel a favor, but his bull-in-a-china-shop approach is just complicating an already deeply precarious situation that could explode into renewed warfare at any moment. If the mediators from the US and Qatar are unable to get the first phase of the deal back on track, that’s what will likely happen.
Reservists will be called up again, and the nearly daily announcement of fatalities that caused the country to hold its collective breath will return. The Houthis have already said they’ll support Hamas by resuming its air attacks on Israel, and we’ll be back right where we were before the onset of the ceasefire a month ago.
We’ll endure and do what needs to be done, but it will be different than before the ceasefire. That’s because, since the ceasefire, we’ve seen 16 hostages walk to freedom – even if the three released this past Shabbat needed assistance to walk.
If it wasn’t crystal clear before, we know the urgency of securing the release of the remaining living hostages. They will be in an even more dismal condition than Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Or Levy were in when they came home last week – walking skeletons.
Going back to war places the prospects of freeing those who remain in Hamas captivity – being tortured, according to the testimony of those who have been released – far out of reach. The only way to get the remaining hostages home is to continue the deal that has been implemented and do everything possible to ensure that phase two takes place.
The mediators need to press Hamas to continue with phase one and press Israel to stop stonewalling on phase two. If that fails, the ceasefire ends and the country is once again at war, facing attacks, soldiers dying, and the hostages continuing to languish, the largely inclusive support for the justified war against Hamas that has steered the course of the first 16 months will begin to wane.
Rays of hope
We’ve just experienced a month of relative calm and a return to a semblance of normalcy. There have even been rays of hope amid the long-hoped-for hostage releases, prompting an emotional roller coaster that we continue to careen on. If we have to go back to the days before that, the people of Israel will. And we’ll fight and do what needs to be done. But the anger and frustration from the people and demand for accountability from our leaders will grow… until it explodes.