Tensions Rising

According to a report from World Israel News the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal hinges on Hamas disarming. And apparently the US and Israel aren’t seeing eye to eye on it:

As Israel prepares for the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza framework and ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington, political tensions are reportedly mounting between Jerusalem and the Trump administration. According to a report by Israel’s Channel 14, senior Israeli officials are expressing growing frustration with the conduct of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, particularly Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

It seems fairly simple that Hamas agrees to disarm and leave Gaza, but the US is saying that it’s a much more complex deal:

Recent discussions with the White House are being described by officials as “complex,” a term sources familiar with the talks say significantly understates the depth of the disagreements now emerging. At the center of the dispute is Israel’s insistence that any Gaza arrangement must include the complete disarmament of Hamas. Israeli officials fear that key advisers around Trump, especially Witkoff, are attempting to steer the president toward diluting that requirement.

I’ve heard talks about making it really complex to the point that the disarming is being watered down:

In recent weeks, proposals circulating in diplomatic channels have included what Israeli officials dismiss as cosmetic measures, such as Hamas surrendering only heavy weapons while retaining small arms, or transferring weapons to Palestinian Authority-controlled depots.

It sounds like the Arab leaders are pushing back on eliminating Hamas totally as Israel wants to do. After all these terrorists killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages, they murdered many of them and treated the rest horribly. There has to be a price for doing that and Israel is having none of this talk of Hamas keeping their weapons one moment longer:

Israeli leaders have rejected those ideas outright. According to the report, the political echelon has made clear that such scenarios “will not happen,” stressing that the Trump framework explicitly requires full demilitarization “to the very end,” without loopholes or evasions.

Hamas is pushing the thinking that the 20 step ceasefire deal is only a starting point for negotiations while Israel is saying they didn’t agree to endless talks and see the deal as a step by step process to be completed. In short, Hamas is manipulating the deal so that they can survive to live another day.

Israel Needs To Act

The article reports what I’ve been saying from the start and that Israel will be on its own to defeat these terrorists and do it with military attacks:

Against this backdrop, Israeli officials are increasingly concluding that a large-scale IDF operation may be unavoidable in the coming months to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities.

And Israel will be the one to control Gaza while it’s being rebuilt, mainly because no other country wants to do the dirty work of telling Hamas to stand down and leave:

The assessment in Jerusalem is that Israel itself may ultimately be forced to carry out the disarmament, as plans for an international stabilization force have stalled and no external actor currently appears willing or able to enforce demilitarization on the ground in Gaza.

With this news as the backdrop, Netanyahu and Trump are set to meet again and it is certain that this disarming of Hamas will be front and center for any talks:

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump on Dec. 29 to discuss the next steps of the ceasefire, including future phases and the proposed international stabilization force, according to an Israeli government spokesperson. The meeting is expected to focus on how, and whether, the core requirement of dismantling Hamas can be implemented.

There were signals of the growing divide, one of which was the recent assassination of a Hamas leader:

Signs of strain have surfaced publicly in recent days. Earlier this week, Axios reported that senior Trump administration officials privately reprimanded Netanyahu following Israel’s targeted killing of senior Hamas commander Ra’ad Sa’ad, who the IDF said was overseeing Hamas efforts to rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure. According to the report, Witkoff, Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were angered both by the strike and by Israel’s reluctance to move forward with the second phase of the deal.

On the outside President Trump is putting on a happy face about the tensions:

Trump publicly downplayed claims of a rift, saying the United States maintains “a very good relationship with Israel,” while acknowledging that Washington is examining whether the strike violated the ceasefire.

“We are looking into that,” he said, while expressing optimism that the second phase could move forward and that some countries may be willing to deploy forces to Gaza.

Israel is maintaining that Hamas needs to be forced to comply in light of their slow walking the deal up to this point:

Despite those assurances, the Channel 14 report reflects a deepening concern in Jerusalem that critical elements of the ceasefire framework, particularly Hamas’s full disarmament, are at risk of being eroded. Israeli officials insist that without decisive enforcement, Hamas will remain armed, entrenched, and poised to resume attacks, a reality they say Israel cannot accept.

Exactly. I am certainly happy that the remaining living hostages are back and that all but one of the hostage remains have been turned over. Trump should take a victory lap for that alone, but now he needs to step up and admit that Hamas is playing games and will never give up power now. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we need to petition God to end this charade of compliance by Hamas as soon as possible.