A senior diplomatic source issued four statements last night within two hours before finally aligning with Donald Trump's straightforward demand – "all of them by Saturday." The US president, showing complete support for Israel, said on Tuesday night that while the decision to issue an ultimatum to Hamas remains with Israel, his position was clear: "Everyone, not in dribs and drabs. Not two or one or three or four. Saturday at 12:00 – and after that, let hell break loose."
The statements gave Israel, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the operational freedom he had dreamed of since October 7. He received a blank check signed by the US president to conduct operations in Gaza without restrictions, interruptions, or ammunition shortages, as Trump had already ordered the delivery of all materials that Joe Biden had delayed.
However, Netanyahu appeared uncertain how to handle this latitude, leading his office to release contradictory positions. Formally, the cabinet decided to "adhere to both parts of Trump's framework." This meant both issuing a complete ultimatum to Hamas to release the hostages by Saturday and adopting the Gaza migration concept. Yet alongside this declaration, Israel practically intended to wait until Saturday to see if Hamas would release three hostages as promised in the original agreement. In other words, Israel was maintaining the deal without terminating it. This was the situation at 5:20 p.m.
The confusion is understandable. Just minutes later, the diplomatic source raised the bar, stating that "the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet expects the release of all nine hostages from phase one within days" – something not specified in the agreement. Simultaneously, Netanyahu declared that "if Hamas doesn't return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the Israeli Defense Forces will resume intensive fighting until Hamas' final defeat." While this was a significant statement, it remained unclear how many hostages Israel expected to see and when.
Only in the fourth version, released by a "senior diplomatic source" at 8:11 p.m., was it stated that "Prime Minister Netanyahu and the cabinet are adhering to President Trump's statement regarding the hostage release. Meaning, everyone must be out by Saturday" – aligning with Trump's position.
This confusion demonstrated inconsistent policy and indecisive leadership, though understandably so. Netanyahu is torn between the implausible narrative promoted by most media outlets and parts of the defense establishment suggesting the possibility of retrieving all hostages through negotiation.
This comes while he clearly understands that the next phases of the deal effectively mean an Israeli defeat in the war and a real risk of renewed Hamas attacks – two components no reasonable person could accept. Between these two extremes, the prime minister wavered until finally aligning, at least verbally, with Trump's position.
Though the path there was convoluted, there is no alternative to a unified stance between the US and Israel, Trump and Netanyahu. Only leveraging American backing and an explicit threat to Hamas about resuming hostilities can bring back all our hostages. Other approaches have been exhausted.
