Hamas, Israel Accept Trump Peace Plan

Weirdly, the people who have been calling for a ceasefire have been rather quiet

Hamas accepts Trump peace plan ending 2 years of war in Gaza, returning hostages

Hamas has agreed to a peace deal pushed by President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages, two years after the terrorist network attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking not only the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust, but a deadly war and a humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip.

Trump took to Truth Social Wednesday to make the announcement: “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”

Speaking to Sean Hannity, Trump said he expects the hostages to be released on Monday. He did not elaborate on whether he would be going to the region, although Netanyahu invited him to address the Israeli parliament on Sunday. (snip)

Israeli media reported Israel and the terror group will sign the deal Thursday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

I guess now we wait to see if Hamas actually releases the 48 hostages, for which 21 are reportedly still alive. And then see if Hamas follows the terms of the peace deal going forward. Palestinians aren’t exactly known for sticking to agreements. Hopefully they will. If the pro-Palestinian people and countries want peace they need to push Hamas and the rest to stick to the agreement.

(Jerusalem Post) Israel conceded on ending the war without having fully disarmed Hamas: This is Israel’s largest concession long-term Netanyahu early on in the war said he would not end the war until Hamas was “annihilated” and much later altered his goal to completely disarmed.

No one believes that Hamas will be fully disarmed with the war ending at this point. Hamas’s military numbers range from 2,000-2,500 hardcore fighters to 20,000 or so less well-trained potential fighters, to a support base within Gaza of around 700,000 Palestinians who associate themselves with the movement by tribe or ideology.

That is the bad news.

The good news is that all 24 of Hamas’s battalions were already militarily defeated by August 2024. There is now no Hamas army and has not been for over a year. What remains are loosely aligned small guerrilla warfare cells. The top achievements of these groups have been to penetrate two Israeli forward positions in Gaza in the last two months, leading to Israeli casualties, but only in those penetrated positions, and not beyond them, let alone anywhere near Israeli civilian areas.

They have also managed to keep up low-grade rocket fire at Gaza border villages, firing one to two rockets at a time, which have not been causing casualties. So what is left of Hamas cannot, for the near future, and probably not even the medium term, threaten another major invasion of Israel or large-scale rocket attacks. But there are still many dangerous people in Gaza, and they could grow and reconstitute themselves if not properly neutralized.

This is where leaders and nations that have whined at Israel need to step in and work to make sure Hamas doesn’t reconstitute and start attacking Israel. Doesn’t get shipments of weapons from Iran, doesn’t take water pipes and turn them into rockets, etc. Or some other Islamic terrorist group steps in. Israel does not want to attack. Leave them alone, and Gaza won’t get annihilated again.

Anyhow, I’ve yet to see any of the Credentialed Media congratulate Trump or anything. Where are the hyper-pro Hamas people on this? The ones who called for a ceasefire, like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib? Why are they not celebrating? It’s almost like they do not actually want a ceasefire. Like they want Hamas to keep fighting.