John Spencer
The road taken in Gaza. How all hostages are not home yet and how Hamas still believes they will emerge from their attack/invasion of Israel victorious. War is an act of force to compel your enemy to do your will. Hamas started a war. Israel must finish it. First hand account and important context about Hamas from Biden's White House coordinator for the Middle East @brett_mcgurk @washingtonpost Hamas is a terrorist group that has ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades. Its Oct. 7 attack, however, was not just an act of terrorism but a full-blown military invasion. Hamas’s leaders pledged to repeat the October massacres and reportedly [statements by Hamas leaders actually] welcomed the civilian toll in Gaza to increase pressure on Israel. Hamas then rejected continuing talks unless Israel accepted a permanent truce up front, with a return to the Oct. 6 status quo. Hamas’s Iranian backers reinforced the group’s demands as it continued to attack Israel. While Hamas and its defenders claim it accepted this framework in early July, that is not true. Hamas reinserted demands for a permanent truce. And in those negotiations, it never — not once, even where nearly every Hamas only engaged seriously on issues it cared about, such as Israel’s military positions during a ceasefire, or mechanisms at border crossings. Nor did Hamas seem to care about the civilians of Gaza, whose suffering would be greatly alleviated by a stop to the fighting and the surge in humanitarian supplies that the ceasefire would enable. Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar — the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, and an obstacle to any hostage deal — was killed in southern Gaza, not far from where Goldberg-Polin died. By Jan. 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration, the ceasefire took effect, and hostages began to come home. The talks ultimately succeeded because the military equation across the region changed, with Hamas isolated and no longer able to count on a multifront conflict. The only way to end this war is for Hamas to continue releasing hostages and accept terms...That means a Gaza without Hamas in charge. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/14/biden-trump-hamas-gaza-hostages/
