Trump’s ‘hellish’ comments are a threat to Hamas, says US Vice President-elect Vance | Israel-Palestine Conflict News

US Vice President-elect JD Vance has said that an agreement between Israel and Hamas could soon be reached and that the reason for the progress is “because people are terrified that there will be consequences for Hamas.”

“We are hopeful that a deal will be reached toward the end of (Joe) Biden’s administration, maybe the last day or two,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

He was responding to a question about what President-elect Donald Trump meant last week when he said that “all hell will break loose” in the Middle East if Hamas does not release the remaining captives it is holding.

“It is very clear that President Trump threatening Hamas and making it clear that the consequences will be enormous is part of the reason we have made progress in releasing some hostages,” Vance said.

Seeming to explain the nuts and bolts of Trump’s threat, Vance said: “Now, what does that look like? “I think, first of all, it means allowing the Israelis to eliminate the last two Hamas battalions and their leaders.”

He added that “it means very aggressive sanctions and financial sanctions on those who support terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means really doing the job of American leadership, which Donald Trump did very well for four years and will do very well for the next four years.”

Months of negotiations and diplomacy have consistently failed to achieve a ceasefire and end the fighting that began on October 7, 2023 after Hamas led an offensive inside Israel, killing at least 1,139 people and taking more than 200 captives. In response, Israel has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and injured more than 109,000 to date.

However, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States continue to push for renewed efforts to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The head of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad as well as Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk attend the latest round of talks in the Qatari capital Doha.

On Monday, an Israeli official said that “the outline of the agreement is clear” and that they are waiting for Hamas’ response, Israeli Channel 13 reported.

“If he responds soon, the details can be finalized in a few days,” the official said, according to the report.

Doubts about the dismantling of Hamas

Vance’s explanation of Trump’s warning echoes what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly: that destruction and “total victory” over Hamas was a major goal of his country’s war on Gaza. .

However, analysts have long cast doubt on such a goal, saying that destroying the ruling entity in Gaza was unrealistic.

Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Humanitarian and Conflict Studies, has said that while Hamas’s military capacity has certainly been weakened, “it remains capable of fighting and retains the will to fight.”

“I don’t think anyone expected Hamas to be able to withstand a year-long attack, possibly the most intense bombing and military campaign since World War II,” he said.

“I think it would leave their leaders quite satisfied with the future of their movement.”

Israeli columnist Gideon Levy previously expressed fears that the war could become an “endless war,” calling Netanyahu’s goal of an outright victory “ridiculous.”

“There will be no defeat here. It will go on and on and on until Israel and Hamas – mainly Israel – realize that it is leading nowhere and that it must stop at any cost.”

Even Israeli military and political officials have questioned Netanyahu’s goal of completely dismantling Hamas. In June, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that Hamas is an “idea” that cannot be “demolished.”

“Hamas is a party and it is implanted in the hearts of the people,” he said. “Whoever thinks we can demolish Hamas is wrong.”

A poll by the Palestinian Center for Survey and Policy Research conducted in June 2024 showed that support for Hamas in Gaza and the occupied West Bank was 40 percent, compared to 34 percent three months earlier.

Last month, Yair Golan, a former member of parliament and current chairman of Israel’s Democratic Party, said the war must end “with a political settlement.”

He mocked Israeli leaders’ claims of a “total victory,” noting that rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory for several consecutive days in December.