A cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas could allow terror groups in Gaza to rearm
JERUSALEM – Scenes of armed and uniformed Hamas terrorists could be seen on Sunday in Gaza as the first three The Israeli hostages were released when the ceasefire agreement came into force.
Israel’s TPS-IL news agency reported that groups of gunmen, suspected to be terrorists in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area, celebrated after the ceasefire and quoted them as singing: “It is continuous with God’s permission that the last Zionist soldier in our holy land is killed,” as cars honked and music blared.
The deal could allow Hamas to reorganize its terrorists in Gaza and repopulate the northern part of the Gaza Strip bordering Israel, according to some concerned Israeli military experts.
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Hamas terrorists appear in a show of force as they escort Red Cross vehicles carrying three Israeli hostages to be freed as part of a ceasefire deal. (TPS-IL)
“Despite significant military achievements against the many Iranian terrorist proxies around it, Israel was forced to agree to a very poor deal that leaves Hamas in power. As Hamas leaders have stated repeatedly, including after the ceasefire was declared, Hamas intends to continue on its path of jihad against Israel until Israel is completely eliminated,” former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told Fox News Digital.
He continued: “The terrorist organization Hamas has Israel in its crosshairs and has agreed to release nearly 2,000 convicted Palestinian terrorists, withdraw from the Gaza Strip and temporarily cease fire to return 33 Israeli hostages.”
After the deal was first announced last week, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, reportedly boasted that his movement planned to commit a second massacre of Israelis on October 7, according to Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translation of his remarks.
On October 7, 2023, he allegedly boasted of the first massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis, including more than 40 Americans, and announced plans to launch more mass killings. “October 7 will remain a source of pride for our people and our resistance, and will be passed down from generation to generation,” al-Hayya said.
Hamas terrorists emerge from the shadows as they surround Red Cross vehicles. (TPS-IL)
He said the jihadist organization would drive Israel out of Palestine and Jerusalem and that it would happen soon, adding: “We will never forget and never forgive,” and vowed that Israel’s crimes would be punished, “even if it takes time.”
Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that only “because of the tremendous international pressure applied to Israel over the last 15 months, which has prevented Israel from exerting the necessary amount of influence and pressure on Hamas in Gaza, this extortion is unfortunately probably the best way to rescuing the Israeli hostages.”
Retired IDF Brig. Gene. Amir Avivi (Res) told Fox News Digital that at this stage the government’s priority is to return the hostages. It’s obviously urgent. Their situation is very bad.” He added “The government intends to continue fighting after the first phase unless there is a ceasefire again to take all the hostages. But he has no intention of giving up on destroying Hamas and creating a new reality in Gaza.”
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Hamas terrorists wave to Gazans during Sunday’s release of three Israeli hostages. (TPS-IL)
Caroline Glick, a conservative Israeli commentator well versed in the Jewish state’s campaign to defeat Hamas, said on her podcast, “What we have now is a situation where we’re permanently forced into this position where we’re not allowed to win because that’s what the ceasefire actually does to Israel.”
The ceasefire deal for the hostages comes at a time when Israel has largely degraded Hamas’ military might. Hamas is in a weak state. Hezbollah, Hamas’ main ally in the region, terminate the ceasefire agreement with Israel and removed one of the Iranian-backed fronts against the Jewish state.
The Iranian regime has not launched new attacks on Israel since Jerusalem responded to its airstrike in October.
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Suspected terrorists in Gaza come out of hiding as a ceasefire agreement is underway for hostages in the Deir al-Balah area of Gaza. (Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL)
The deal contains deep concessions for Israel. The Jewish state will release up to 2,000 Palestinian terrorists, including more than a hundred serving life sentences.
The expectation is based on previous releases of Palestinian terrorists for Israeli hostages involved in Palestinian killers returning to fight against Israel.
TPS-IL reported on Monday that about 20,000 terrorists from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups were killed in the war. It was also reported on Sunday that Izz al-Din Haddad, the commander of Hamas’s Northern Brigade, who oversaw Sunday’s handover of three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, had been named as Hamas’s leader to rebuild the terrorist organization.
