Nadene Goldfoot
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the U.S.-led command center in Kiryat Gat, which is responsible for monitoring the ongoing ceasefire, facilitating humanitarian aid and laying groundwork for a future stabilization force in Gaza.
He reiterated that no state will allow the involvement of Hamas in managing Gaza’s future security.
Rubio said that an international security force created to stabilize Gaza will only include troops from countries that Israel is comfortable with.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for sanctions and an arms embargo to be imposed on Israel, accusing it of violating the ceasefire in Gaza. [which is why Israel isn't "comfortable" with Turkish troops joining the international force.]
Israel is awaiting the return of the bodies of 2 more hostages this weekend. All the living hostages have been returned.
Hamas has been severely degraded and the IDF still controls around half of Gaza, which serves as a security buffer along the Israeli border.
Hamas terrorists still seem to be in firm control of their part of Gaza, which includes the overwhelming majority of the Strip's population, and Hamas isn't disarming, as they are meant to do per the ceasefire agreement.
The fact that they lost thousands of fighters and caused the deaths of thousands of civilians and the destruction of most of Gaza doesn't trouble them.
Remember, they are a Jihadist organization whose mission is to destroy Israel at all costs.
Sinwar and the Hamas leadership knew very well the death and destruction that would occur as a result of their barbaric Oct. 7 attack -- the IDF captured the files and documents that prove that -- and yet they felt that it was well worth it if it could fulfill their Jihad.
The late Egyptian President Ansar Sadat reportedly said, before the Yom Kippur War of 1973, that he was willing to sacrifice one million lives to destroy Israel.
Hamas was more than willing to sacrifice 30 or 40 thousand.
The Arab countries won. Israel removed their biggest threat, Iran, and they are now closer than ever to the U.S. and will undoubtedly getting lots of great gifts in exchange for their support of Trump's peace deal, in addition to their growing influence in Washington.
For the time being, it doesn't look like Hamas is exiting the plot of our story, and it seems to still have the support of Turkey and Qatar.
The tens of millions of university students and liberal revolutionaries demonstrating their support for Hamas have been growing and nurturing for decades.
- Israel: The primary country normalizing relations with Arab nations.
- United Arab Emirates (UAE): Signed the agreement in 2020.
- Bahrain: Signed the agreement in 2020.
- Morocco: Joined the Accords in December 2020.
- Sudan: Signed the general declaration in January 2021, but has not yet completed its bilateral agreement.
- Egypt (1979): The Egypt-Israel peace treaty was a landmark agreement following the Camp David Accords. In exchange for peace, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. While the peace has been described as "cold," full diplomatic relations were established and have held.
- Jordan (1994): The treaty between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan officially ended the state of war that had existed since 1948. The agreement settled border and water disputes, established diplomatic relations, and included cooperation on trade and tourism.
At the end of the day, Israel is still surrounded by countries and populations who would rather it not exist, and the moment they can make that a reality, they will.
Hezbollah is still around in the north and Hamas is looking like it'll be sticking around in the south. Israel killed at least a dozen senior Hamas military and political officials during the first year of the Gaza war. Its most daring operations killed Haniyeh in Tehran and Mohammed Deif, the chief Hamas military commander, in Gaza, both in July 2024. In January, Mossad chief David Barnea vowed that Israel was “committed to settling accounts” with everyone involved—“directly or indirectly,” including “planners and envoys”—in the Hamas invasion of Gaza. “It’ll take time, as it took time after the Munich massacre, but we will put our hands on them wherever they are,” he said, referring to the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.
Iran might be defanged for the moment, but they'll bide their time and wait for a more "favorable" U.S. administration, and then pick up where they left off.
Israel is still at war with its neighbors that produce terrorists and much of the world. Maybe Trump can pull off his vision of peace in the Middle East? We can hope and pray. But what happens when he isn't president anymore? Is peace only PIE IN THE SKY?? More prayer...]
Resource:
israelAM
