Recently, Egypt and Qatar made a new proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Under the terms, Hamas would release a handful of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire that would last until after Passover, the resumption of humanitarian aid, and predictably, the release of yet more Palestinian terrorists. Hamas has reportedly agreed to the proposal, while Israel has conveyed a counter-proposal in response.
As IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir recently said, Hamas is simply stalling for time. Indeed, the only kind of ceasefire Israel should accept is one in which Hamas frees all the remaining hostages, living and dead, and surrenders unconditionally. Until then, Israel should use maximum military pressure along with other robust measures to send a clear message to the genocidal terrorist group – your time is up. Israel is through playing your games. Surrender, release all the hostages, or suffer unprecedented consequences.
But what should those unprecedented consequences be? Maximum military pressure alone will not persuade Hamas to surrender and free the hostages. Israel has also cut off aid and electricity to Gaza, but that still won't be enough. There needs to be more.
Defence Minister Israel Katz has already threatened to annex territory in Gaza if Hamas does not free the hostages. But he issued this threat over a week ago and still hasn't made good on it. That has to change. The Israeli government should immediately submit legislation to the Knesset calling for the annexation of Gazan territory.
In fact, Israel shouldn't limit itself to annexing territory in Gaza. If Hamas continues refusing to release the hostages and surrender, the Israeli government should begin annexing parts of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The more time Hamas refuses to surrender and release the remaining hostages, the more territory Israel would annex. But even this may not be enough.
So, what else? President Donald Trump has wisely recommended that Gazans who want to leave the coastal enclave and seek better lives elsewhere should be allowed to do so. Contrary to what critics have said about his plan for Gaza, Trump has never suggested forcibly displacing the Gazan population. In fact, last month, he told reporters, "Nobody is expelling any Palestinians (from Gaza)."
But why not? Many of the Gazans deserve to be forcibly removed. Polls show that most of them, along with their fellow Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, supported the October 7 massacre, in which Hamas methodically murdered, raped, tortured, incinerated, decapitated, and kidnapped roughly 1,500 innocent people, mostly Jewish civilians. Some Gazans even directly participated in it. For these bloodthirsty savages, relocation shouldn't be a choice. It should be mandatory. Israelis should no longer have to live next to people who want to murder them.
Thus, if Hamas refuses to surrender and free the remaining hostages, Israel should begin deporting Palestinians from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria. I would suggest that Israel do this, not just in response to Hamas' intransigence, but also in response to continued terrorist attacks on Israelis. Every time an Israeli is murdered by a Palestinian terrorist, Israel should deport a number of Palestinians, though I would caution that Palestinians selected for deportation should be selected based on their hostility towards Israel, not just chosen at random. Palestinians who have never shown hostility towards the Jewish state should not be deported, although I think it would be hard to find Palestinians who haven't.
Ultimately, the only thing that ruthless murderers like Hamas understand is strength. Freeing hundreds of terrorists, many of whom slaughtered innocent Israelis, in exchange for what President Donald Trump called "dribs and drabs" of hostages shows weakness. It encourages Hamas and other terrorists to take more hostages in the future. I would remind everyone that Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacre, was among the hundreds of terrorists released in the deal to free IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. This should make you wonder, how many more Israelis will be slaughtered by terrorists who were freed in the last hostage deal?
It's time Israel put its foot down. No more releasing terrorist murderers. No more allowing aid into Gaza for Hamas to steal. No more concessions of any kind. Instead, Israel should use maximum military pressure coupled with other strong measures to persuade Hamas that keeping the hostages and remaining in Gaza will lead to the defeat of the Palestinian cause.
