The start of implementing the Trump plan to free all the Israeli hostages, even at the moral cost and risk of releasing vile murderers, is a very welcome achievement of the US‑Israel alliance led by Trump and Netanyahu. There is no doubt that the living hostages and the deceased released so far were freed because Hamas feared annihilation.
Israel and the US have shown resolve to uproot the terror army from the Strip, a resolve that did not evaporate even in the face of threats to the hostages' lives. Two years of massive military pressure, the imminent occupation of all of Gaza City and an attack on Qatar, which did not enjoy US protection, demonstrated to Hamas and its patrons that Israel, with US backing, is determined to destroy it.
The terror army was forced to release all the hostages after Israel captured half the Strip and conditioned the end of the war and any reconstruction on its total eradication. It was compelled to abandon its tactic of hiding behind hostages only when it understood that Israel would not be cowed by threats against them, and even for the sake of its loved ones would not abandon the security of the public or acquiesce to the group's survival. This is happening now (contrary to the assessment of many, myself included) because Hamas and its patrons—Qatar, Egypt and Turkey—fear total collapse and the deepening of the catastrophe for the people in Gaza.
The terror army has not decided to commit suicide. It still hopes to survive through deception, suspension and the assistance of the three mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. But the conditions in the Trump plan enable Israel to thwart that deceptive strategy, provided Israel remains clear about its objectives and does not yield to the defeatist voices within it. Israel does not need to strike immediately after the hostages are freed. The threat of a future strike will suffice, and Israel should prevent any real reconstruction in Gaza and allow only humanitarian aid—so long as a practical, secured agreement for military and political de‑Hamasization, with effective enforcement mechanisms, is not achieved.
Israel has powerful levers to back its demand for de‑Hamasization in Gaza. First, there is no international legitimacy for Hamas' survival in the Strip. Second, reconstruction needs there are urgent and require agreements with Israel (and the crisis in Gaza even demands opening gates for emigration, as envisioned in US‑Israel plans; otherwise the crisis will worsen and any reconstruction will fail). Third, in Lebanon Israel has obtained broad legitimacy for its demand that terror armies not threaten its borders and citizens.
That said, the situations in Lebanon and Gaza differ. In Lebanon Israel can conduct continuous strikes and demand that the government dismantle Hezbollah the terrorist organization. In Gaza, by contrast, there is no government to demand anything of, and afterwards Israel will not want to clash with the US and other international actors. Therefore, in Gaza Israel must be more forceful in its demands, and do so early, before those actors step in. Israel has strong levers for its demand to eliminate Hamas in Gaza: control of half the territory, the encirclement of its remainder and widespread destruction.
If we tolerate Hamas' survival after the release of hundreds of murderers from prison, we will bring upon ourselves the next disaster. Smotrich and Struck are entirely correct in saying that releasing murderers encourages further kidnappings and strengthens Hamas. The cure for this is only a crushing defeat—that is, a demonstration that kidnappings bring catastrophe on the kidnappers, despite Israel's sensitivity to abductions, and that it is impossible to rebuild the terror army.
We may suspect our establishment. It has already fallen into the trap with the Shalit deal, deterrence and the rounds approach. The disaster will repeat if we do not do the opposite and uproot Hamas and pursue its members everywhere. What Israel did to the PLO's Black September, including expelling the PLO from Lebanon in 1982, it must do to Hamas, and without reverting to the pacifist, defeatist mistakes of Oslo.
This will not be the end of the story, of course. The struggle with Palestinian murderousness in all its forms will continue. But to win in the end, we must at all costs prevent the formation of terror armies that threaten our borders. The burden of proof is on us now—at phase two of the Trump plan.
