U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Gaza’s two million residents and rehabilitate the Strip has moved from statements of intent to a clear warning. On Feb. 9, 2025, while aboard Air Force One, Trump shared his shock with reporters at witnessing the release on Saturday of Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy.
Trump told reporters that the three men’s emaciated condition had reminded him of images of Holocaust survivors. In a thinly veiled warning to Hamas, that he repeated three times, he said, “I don’t know how long we can take that.”
Those who heard Trump’s initial warnings to Hamas at the White House press conference on Feb. 4 together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will remember that this is the second time in less than a week that Trump has publicly put Hamas on notice.
He said clearly on Dec. 2, before taking office: “[If] the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”
In his Feb. 4 press conference, Trump added that “we’d like to get all of the hostages, and if we don’t, it will just make us somewhat more violent.”
Hamas would be well advised to heed Trump’s warnings. Trump has publicly endorsed Israel’s right to continue its war to defeat Hamas and affiliated groups such as Islamic Jihad and other armed local clans.
Since the Trump-Netanyahu meeting, the two leaders have been subject to ridicule and cynicism from Arab and Western media. Those considering testing Trump’s intentions should remember his record on fulfilling promises regarding the Palestinian issue: Trump was the first president to close the PLO offices in Washington, he withdrew U.S. funding from UNRWA, which was proven after Oct. 7, 2023, to have been collaborating with Hamas. He also closed the U.S. Consulate on Agron Street in western Jerusalem, which had for years served as a de facto consulate for the PLO–P.A. More importantly, Trump was the first president to fulfill the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, and moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also enforced the Taylor Force Act, cutting U.S. aid to the P.A. over its payments to terrorists and their families.
According to Netanyahu’s inner circle, the prime minister and Trump are closely coordinated on the red lines for the second stage. It is more than reasonable to assess that this coordination will vindicate Netanyahu’s public promise to resume the war against Hamas, fulfilling the government’s original goals: removing Hamas from power, eliminating the terror threat from Gaza and returning all the hostages.
Despite Israel’s painful concessions in phase one of the ceasefire, Jerusalem still maintains one major leverage point: its controlling presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (9 mile) strip separating Egypt from Gaza. The Philadelphi route had become a highway of terror, through which weapons, supplies and ammunition are smuggled to Hamas. Israel’s continued control of the Philadelphi Corridor constitutes an essential defense against the continued flow of weapons shipments.
For its part, Hamas has already rejected Israel’s red lines out of hand. It is well understood in Jerusalem and Washington that Hamas’s rejection will prevent the completion of stage two. Additionally, Washington’s intentions to pressure Hamas via its intermediaries in Qatar and Egypt will most likely fail. This imminent collision has left a small window during which additional hostages may be exchanged for terrorists in order to delay the inevitable clash with Hamas.
In parallel to U.S.-Israel coordination and Trump’s specific warnings, Israel’s leadership has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to prepare new strategy and tactics against Hamas. Netanyahu’s instructions to the IDF also build on U.S.-Israel understandings; Trump recently reversed Biden’s embargo of D9 bulldozers and heavy munitions, the latter of which can be used both to destroy Hamas tunnels and Iranian underground nuclear and strategic sites.
The bottom line is this: Trump’s declarations to Hamas are far more than mere rhetoric. These are concrete intentions backed by Israeli military readiness and U.S.-Israeli coordination. This time around, Hamas will not be able to look to its P.A. “counterparts” in Ramallah, who have supported Hamas’s massacre, kidnapping and subsequent war against Israel.
Israel can also count on this president to veto any P.A. attempt to initiate condemnatory resolutions against Israel via third parties in the U.N. Security Council or other international organizations in its never-ending attempt to prevent Israel’s right to defend itself, to release its hostages, and defeat the Iran-backed Hamas terror organizations.
{Reposted from JCFA}
