Ceasefire/Hostage Deal in Gaza Holds, As Bibi Lies to Trump, Plans Sabotage
Jan. 25—This morning, Hamas released 4 women Israeli soldiers to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as the second hostage/prisoner exchange began. Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners later in the day.
Meanwhile, thousands of trucks carrying food, water and other humanitarian aid poured into Gaza from several border crossings—the life-giving supplies was being distributed at several points in the north and south of Gaza by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) personnel, under the protection of armed Hamas fighters; it is unclear who will handle the massive logistic problem of the distribution of this aid once an Israeli-imposed ban on all UN activities in Gaza takes effect, as it will in East Jerusalem on Jan. 31.
It had been expected that next week, the trickle of people returning home in the north would swell to the tens of thousands, as the IDF, under the ceasefire agreement, would continue its pullout from the Netzarim Corridor that divides Gaza down the middle. The returnees will find what the others who have made the trek before them have found: that their homes have been razed by the savage Israeli bombardment to heaps of rubble. This only underscores the gargantuan problem of building new dwelling units for the more than a million displaced persons, who now have no place to live, and who have no public utilities to serve them. The immediate need is for more than 750,000 units, the cost for which will run into several hundreds of billions of dollars, not considering the provision of water, sewer, and power.
However, the IDF has now delayed the return of the mass of displaced Gazans to their homes in the north, demanding that Hamas fulfill its agreement to prioritize the return of women civilian hostages – Arbel Yehoud, and Shiri Bibas and her children., who were expected by Israel to be returned before the women soldiers. Sources report that Hamas will give the necessary assurances that the civilian woman are alive and will be returned in the next round of hostage exchanges, and that the Israelis will allow the Palestinians to return to north Gaza. As of this writing no such assurances have been given
President Donald Trump, who has properly been given credit by many Israelis and Palestinians alike for forcing the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu to accept the deal, on terms he previously rejected, has said that “a total rebuild” is needed, but that is not scheduled to begin until the third phase of the deal, and only after all those still held hostage by Hamas, dead and alive, are released.
But what should now be perfectly clear to all who are paying attention, is that Bibi has “zero intention of carrying this through to the end,” as a source said yesterday. “He has already told his coalition partners, those whack-jobs of the religious right, that he will start the killing again at the end of the first phase of the deal, a few weeks from now. But that’s not what he has told Trump or Trump’s tough talking Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The President knows he is being lied to, and he is not going to take that from this murderous maniac Bibi. He may have some cards to play that Netanyahu will be surprised by.”
Bibi is trying to cover his own intentions by blaming other people for his actions. When he knew that Trump was going to force him to swallow this deal—the same one he has rejected for months—his propaganda machine, which includes major U.S. media, played up the line that “Trump made me do it.” Now he is letting his lunatic Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich say that he, Smotrich, forced Bibi to pledge that he would renew the war in Gaza at the end of the first phase, as well as claiming that he, Smotrich, had demanded that Bibi authorize the IDF’s move into the West Bank, to “protect” the people in the settler movement, which he and former [National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir encourage. (Ben-Gvir, unlike Smotrich, took his small party of fanatics, Jewish Power, out of the coalition government, resigning his post to protest the deal. Sources report that he will come back to Bibi if the war in Gaza starts up again and if the West Bank operations, now focused on Jenin, expand.)
While Smotrich and Ben-Gvir support policies of genocide against Palestinians, this is not “their policy,” but Netanyahu’s from the get-go. Bibi, whose desire to massively reduce the Palestinian population and to block a Palestinian state knows no moral bounds, will, if allowed, kill every Palestinian in his messianic efforts to “preserve the Jewish State.” Sources report that Trump was only dimly aware of this, simply believing Bibi to be a clever politician. “When Trump saw the pictures of devastation (many were in the recent excellent photo-essay published by Haaretz), he was shocked,” said a source. “He told people around him that this is not a war against Hamas, but war to bring about the utter destruction of the people of Gaza. This was not necessary.”
This and other sources are now also worried that Bibi may be trying to initiate a similar process on the West Bank, and that Trump may have inadvertently signaled his consent for the operation. Trump was supposedly asked by some lunatics in his own political coterie to remove sanctions put by the Biden Administration on certain West Bank settlers for their criminal and muderous actions against Palestinians. He was told that this would also help Bibi in dealing with Smotrich, et al. to get the ceasefire/hostage deal through the cabinet. So, Trump signed an executive order removing the sanctions on these self-same settlers, who are committing actions of outrageous violence against Palestinians on the West Bank. And shortly after that the IDF began its operations in Jenin, ordered by Bibi, with Smotrich’s loud approval.
“Trump is learning what he is dealing with in Bibi,” said a source, who reported that the U.S. is moving to preserve the other peace deal—the one with Hezbollah and Lebanon, that “ended” the recent Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and the devastating bombardment of that and other parts of the country. Two days ago, Netanyahu pushed through his cabinet approval to extend the stay of IDF forces in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border for at least 30 days beyond the Jan. 26 date which the deal says they must withdraw. The IDF says the extension is necessary since the Lebanese Army is not yet prepared to handle the border area to prevent Hezbollah activities. Hezbollah and Lebanon both protested the violation of the deal, but the U.S. has told them that the U.S. will make sure that the IDF is out, as soon as the Lebanese Army moves in.
The source reported that Trump is personally committed to see the ceasefire/hostage deal through to the end of all three phases, no matter what Netanyahu thinks. Bibi has said that Hamas still represents a threat to Israel—a fact disputed by the leadership of the IDF and the security services, who have long ago stated that war in Gaza should be ended. One of those IDF leaders, IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Herzl Halevi, in a letter dated Jan. 21, announced his resignation, effective March 6, citing his responsibility for the failure of the IDF to properly defend the Israeli people from the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack which massacred more than 1,200 mostly innocent civilians and took 240 hostage.
Sources report that Bibi was going to fire Halevi and other commanders who were “soft” on the need to continue the war against the “terrorists” at all costs. Instead, Halevi acted first by resigning, implying that all those who were in the chain of command should do so as well. At the top of that chain is Bibi, who sources say refused to even consider the possibility of the attack, despite the fact that Israel had gotten Hamas’ blueprint for what became Oct. 7 nearly a year before it occurred from informants in Hamas’ leadership and had intelligence showing that Hamas was training for attack.
“Bibi is the one responsible for the final deployments and actions to defend Israel,” said the source. “And if there were a state appointed commission to investigate Oct. 7, independent of Bibi’s direct influence, that is what it would find. He would be forced to resign—which is precisely why he orchestrated a Knesset defeat Jan. 22 of a motion to set up such a commission. Now, the matter will not come up for another 6 months, unless the government falls for other reasons.”
But, in the end, as Haaretz columnist Amos Herzl said this week, the decision on whether the ceasefire/hostage deal moves forward ultimately is not Bibi’s to make, but rests with Donald Trump. And Trump and his envoy Witkoff intend to make it happen, despite Trump’s rather gloomy statement to the press earlier in the week that the deal “may fall apart” and that this is not “America’s war.”
Sources say that Trump and Witkoff believe that Bibi has made a mistake in not providing any plan for “the day after” which would specify how Gaza is to be run, when Israel pulls out. “He did this because, in his mind, Israel will remain there, in force,” said the source. “Netanyahu believes that the IDF must oversee the rubble-heap. The IDF and people like Herzl rejected that concept. So, now what can happen is the U.S. and its regional allies, like the Saudis, the Gulf states and the Egyptians must come up with a plan that will likely involve the Palestinian Authority, which is something Bibi does not want, because of its linkage to the establishment of a Palestinian State.”
“There may be another surprise,” said the source. “Hamas, by default still seemingly in charge of Gaza, is not in its present form allowed to be involved in a new governing body. But what if Hamas were to agree to lay down its arms—or at least the majority of them to do so? Would those people be allowed to work in a new government?”
Witkoff has again flown to Gaza, on what is described as an inspection tour. Some sources say that he may quietly meet with some people linked with Hamas r to explore options with people who were opposed, as many were, to the Oct. 7 attack, and who now would like to outflank Bibi, and forestall further new slaughter. Witkoff, sources report, believes that there must be some kind of enormous plan to rebuild Gaza worked now and announced soon, which would include regional partners like the Saudis. He has told some people, reportedly including the President, that in order to create backing for a permanent peace in the region, you have to give the Palestinians, and especially those who want to try to live in Gaza, some tangible signs that this will be possible. Such thinking has broad support within sections of the anti-Bibi Israeli opposition, but will find no backing from the Butcher of Gaza, and his government.