From today’s Telegraph:
(Colonel Richard Kemp is a former British Army officer)
“So why is Hamas agreeing to release some of the hostages now? The original proposal on which this deal is based was made in March last year. Since then Hamas repeatedly refused to go along with it. But now its situation has deteriorated dramatically. Its betrayal by Hezbollah, which vowed to fight on until the IDF left Gaza then agreed to its own ceasefire, was a body-blow. The fall of Assad was another. But particularly devastating was the failure of Iran to come to the rescue.
Hamas is now isolated and to crown it all Donald Trump is entering the White House next week. They fear that will unshackle Israel from the constraints of Joe Biden who tried his best to prevent Netanyahu’s “total victory”. They also fear that Trump will do what Biden failed to do: force Qatar to expel their political leadership and also reduce the international pressure on Israel on which Hamas depends. There is every likelihood Trump will sanction the International Criminal Court and at the same time put the boot into the Israel haters at the UN.
All that is why Hamas has now accepted Israel’s red line: the IDF will maintain military forces in key strategic areas in Gaza and Israel retains the right to resume the war when the ceasefire ends. The terrorist organisation will meanwhile be planning to utilise its international backers to pressure Israel not to resume hostilities – including the useful idiots who parade on our streets and university campuses every week.
But while any hostages are retained in Gaza and while Hamas continues to represent a threat to its people, Israel can and should go back on the attack. For that they will have Trump’s backing. His nomination for National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, told Fox News: “I’d like to make something very clear to the Israelis, if you need to go back in, we are with you. We are 100 per cent committed to destroying Hamas as a military organisation”.