There are many reasons to be skeptical of Hamas’s announcement today that it will release all remaining hostages — and the bodies of deceased hostages — in accordance with the terms of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
In the first place, there is no reason to take Hamas’s word at face value at all. This isn’t a “trust but verify” situation. This is a “let’s see Hamas follow through completely before giving it any credit” type of thing.
But there’s no question that this news must be counted as a win for Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Hamas. The president’s Gaza peace plan is, so far, still in play.
Here’s Liam Slack for the New York Times:
In a statement posted online on Friday night, the armed group said it would release the hostages “according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, and as the field conditions for the exchange are met.”
“In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss these details,” the group added.
The statement also said the group agreed “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.”But it was not clear from that language if Hamas had agreed to a stipulation in the proposal that called for the group to be barred from exercising political power in Gaza in the future, or if it saw a place for itself or its members among that body of technocrats.
Much remains to be done. The burden of proof remains on Hamas. There is a big difference, of course, between a “readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss these details” and Hamas accepting the outcome of those negotiations and then executing on its obligations. Will Hamas agree to completely demilitarize? Will Hamas agree to cease all attempts to engage in Palestinian politics, as the Trump plan demands? At this point, we don’t know for sure — but again, skepticism is warranted. And it will be interesting to see how Jerusalem will respond if it gets all Israeli hostages back, but Hamas survives, albeit in a weakened form.
There’s one other thing: If Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan (of which I have been a skeptic) comes to fruition, there’s no question the man would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.