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7 Key Takeaways From the Hostage Deal
Released Israeli hostage, Omri Miran, held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, embraces his father, Dani Miran, after his release as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Reim, Israel, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
1. President Trump deserves tremendous credit. But he did not do it alone.
Love him or hate him, President Trump had the determination and the moxie to make the deal happen. Many, including me, doubted that Hamas would return the 20 living hostages, as it was their main bargaining chip. Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program showed the world he would use force, despite people saying it could cause a World War. It didn’t.
Numerous reports say Trump was able to get Qatar and possibly Turkey to pressure Hamas. Perhaps his famous speech saying America would own Gaza and turn it into a riviera, was a bluff so that a more reasonable approach would be accepted.
2. The Israeli attack on Qatar shook its leaders, who feared the IDF’s capabilities.
Qatar has been playing a double game, trying to appear to be friendly with all groups, while allowing Hamas’ billionaire leaders to stay in the country’s posh hotels as a safe haven.
Israel’s attack, though unsuccessful in killing Hamas’ leaders, was successful in demonstrating that Qatar and perhaps other countries harboring terrorists would not be off-limits.
Trump forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize to the Qatari Prime Minister. But Israel, stunned by the huge failure of October 7, was able to restore deterrence through the pager operation against Hezbollah, as well as the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other Hamas leaders, which Netanyahu gave the green light for. Nobody should think Qatar can be trusted, and we must keep an eye on the leaders of the country.
3. Israel paid a heavy price, and there was no moral equivalency.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour absurdly stated that the Israeli hostages were probably treated “better than the average Gazan.” Shame on her. This is categorically false. What a disgusting thing to say, which reminds us of when Rabbi Leo Dee’s wife and daughters were shot and murdered by terrorists, and she said they were killed in the crossfire. Did she not see the starving picture of Evyatar David (while in captivity) photographed with a shovel, looking near death? Thankfully he is okay. Amanpour can’t even hide her bias.
Other reports equated the release of the hostages with the release of Palestinian prisoners. Some said they were serving “life sentences,” but downplayed or did not include that they had blood on their hands and that these were murderers that were being released.
It is not forgotten that the mastermind of the October 7 attacks, Yahya Sinwar, was one of more than 1,000 prisoners released in the Gilad Shalit deal.
4. It is unclear how Hamas can be de-militarized, and this is a major concern.
Trump is not all powerful. Hamas officials said they wanted to commit many more October 7 attacks, and are now killing their opponents in Gaza. They aren’t giving up their weapons.
What forces would oversee a de-militarization of Hamas? Would Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, or other countries send troops to do so and could they be trusted? What would happen if they had skirmishes with Israeli soldiers?
The agreement is vague and gives no specifics of how this can happen, and Hamas’ recent executions are not a good sign.
5. Can there be momentum for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords?
Understandably, Saudi Arabia was in no position to make any deals with Israel during the war in Gaza. Would its leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, be willing to make an agreement with Israel, say in a year from now? What would he demand from Israel? And what might any remnants of Hamas try to do to prevent it?
6. Who will govern Gaza and what happens to Netanyahu?
No one should have illusions that there will be a lasting peace. Many Israelis pushing for a Palestinian state have stopped after October 7. The Palestinian public, which has endured horrors and death in this war with a large amount of buildings being reduced to rubble, will be angry. There is understandable rage.
Who will govern Gaza? The Palestinian Authority? Some other force? Even if Hamas is somehow disbanded, if their ideology simply transfers to a new group, what would prevent more attacks in the future? Is there anything to be done to incentivize peace? In addition, Netanyahu still faces criminal charges and it is unclear what will become of that. Would he resign, perhaps thinking he finally defeated Iran? Could he possibly win another election? It’s not as cut and dry as one might think.
7. Was Trump serious when he said there can be a deal with Iran or was he trolling?
In his speech to the Israeli Knesset, one of the only things that did not result in applause was Trump’s suggestion that a peace deal could be made with Iran. Trump, famously, pulled out of the nuclear deal brokered by President Barack Obama. Iranian leaders have vowed to wipe Israel off the map and it is unlikely that this goal would be pushed aside, simply because its proxies have been weakened or nearly defeated.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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Jared Kushner Arrives in Israel for Gaza Talks with Netanyahu, Source Says
Jared Kushner listens as US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) speaks to members of the media in Kiryat Gat, Israel, October 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
US President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on implementing the US plan to end the Gaza war, a source familiar with the matter said.
Kushner was expected to meet with Netanyahu on Monday, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity as the meeting had not been formally announced. The White House and Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Trump announced a 20-point plan in September to end the two-year-old war in the Palestinian territory, starting with a ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 and the handover of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The militant group has released 20 living hostages and the remains of 24 hostages from Gaza since October 10. There are four deceased hostages whose remains are still being held in Gaza.
The next phase of the ceasefire is supposed to see the standing up of a multinational force that would gradually take over security inside Gaza from the Israeli military.
An Israeli government spokesperson said earlier on Sunday that there would be “no Turkish boots on the ground” in Gaza as part of that multinational force.
Asked about Israel’s objections to Turkish forces in Gaza, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said at a Manama security conference earlier this month that Turkey would participate.
Vice President JD Vance said last month there would be a “constructive role” for Ankara to play but that Washington wouldn’t force anything on Israel when it came to foreign troops “on their soil.”
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Netanyahu Faces Criticism Over Efforts to Block National Inquiry Into Oct. 7
FILE PHOTO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement during a visit to the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by an Iranian missile barrage, in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met last Friday with Likud MK Ariel Kellner to discuss advancing a bill that would establish an alternative commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre.
According to sources close to the matter, the legislative initiative has made no progress.
The meeting has drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers. Deputy Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) accused Netanyahu of “continuing to mistreat bereaved families and all the victims of the war,” asserting that a national commission of inquiry will be created, period.” Deputy Naama Lazimi wrote on X, “So Netanyahu is sending Kellner as a proxy to pass a law that will exempt him from all responsibility for the massacre that took place under his governance? Who would have thought that Hamas’s financier would act this way?”
The Knesset is scheduled to hold a debate on Monday, at the opposition’s request and in the presence of the Prime Minister, on the creation of a national commission of inquiry to examine the failures of October 7. Yesh Atid emphasized, “765 days after the outbreak of the October 7 war, the Israeli government refuses to create a national commission that would provide answers to bereaved families. We will not stop fighting for them.”
The debate comes just days before the government must respond to a petition filed with the Supreme Court calling for the establishment of a national commission. The court has noted that “there is no real controversy regarding the very need to create a national commission with broad investigative powers.”
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Hamas Says Fighters Holed Up in Rafah Will Not Surrender
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Hamas fighters holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza will not surrender to Israel, the group’s armed wing said on Sunday, urging mediators to find a solution to a crisis that threatens the month-old ceasefire.
Sources close to mediation efforts told Reuters on Thursday that fighters could surrender their arms in exchange for passage to other areas of the enclave under a proposal aimed at resolving the stalemate.
Egyptian mediators have proposed that, in exchange for safe passage, fighters still in Rafah surrender their arms to Egypt and give details of tunnels there so they can be destroyed, said one of the sources, an Egyptian security official.
Sunday’s statement from Al-Qassam Brigades held Israel responsible for engaging the fighters, who it said were defending themselves.
“The enemy must know that the concept of surrender and handing oneself over does not exist in the dictionary of the Al-Qassam Brigades,” the group said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday that the proposed deal for about 200 fighters would be a test for a broader process to disarm Hamas forces across Gaza.
Al-Qassam Brigades did not comment directly on the continuing talks over the fighters in Rafah but implied that the crisis could affect the ceasefire.
“We place the mediators before their responsibilities, and they must find a solution to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire and prevent the enemy from using flimsy pretexts to violate it and exploit the situation to target innocent civilians in Gaza,” the group said.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect in Gaza on October 10, the Rafah area has been the scene of at least two attacks on Israeli forces, which Israel has blamed on Hamas. The militant group has denied responsibility.
Rafah has been the scene of the worst violence since the ceasefire took hold, with three Israeli soldiers killed, prompting Israeli retaliation that killed dozens of Palestinians.
Separately, Al-Qassam Brigades said it will hand over the body of deceased Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin in Gaza on Sunday at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT).
Since the ceasefire, Hamas has handed over the bodies of 23 of 28 deceased hostages. Hamas has said the devastation in Gaza has made locating the bodies difficult. Israel accuses Hamas of stalling.
Israel has released to Gaza the bodies of 300 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Local health authorities said on Sunday that one man was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis, south of the enclave. The Israeli military made no immediate comment.