Hamas has agreed in principle to resume talks to release more than 40 hostages in Gaza in exchange for a prolonged cease-fire, but retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Sunday that he doesn't see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing to that.
"I don't see it happening because I don't believe Netanyahu can stand the political heat that he's going to undergo to do that cease-fire," Holt told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I also don't believe that Hamas will be a good-faith partner in the release of said hostages, and they'll still have 60 to 70 hostages left after that's all done."
Qatari mediators late last week told Israel that Hamas is willing to free 40 to 50 hostages in exchange for a cease-fire of up to 30 days, but Holt said Sunday that would give Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and other enemy combatants 30 days to prepare for a strike on Israel.
"They've got Hamas on their heels right now," he said. "Why would they yield those gains? I don't think Netanyahu could take that heat."
Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, also appearing on Sunday's show, commented on the approval Friday of the $147.5 million sale of munitions to Israel under an emergency provision.
He noted that the administration moved artillery rounds out of Israel into Ukraine, showing the "myopic vision that this administration had on Ukraine and not realizing and understanding the existential threat that Israel feels every day."
And with the administration bypassing Congress to send the recent aid package, "you have to look at the bigger picture," said Tata.
"Israel is going to be OK," he said. "They've got the ammunition they need. I think a lot of these approvals take many, many months to come to fruition. Netanyahu said it's going to be several months before this war ends. And so I think Israel is going to be just fine. And a lot of the histrionics that you see from this administration is just for public consumption."
Meanwhile, Holt said he believes the war between Israel and Hamas will "stay in a hold" rather than escalate "until they are convinced that they have Hamas where they want them."
"It's a clean-up operation and a stability operation, then they're going to swing and turn their attention to Hezbollah," said Holt. "Why do I believe that? It's because of their preparation of the battlespace when we see these strikes on Syria.
"Apparently, they tagged 11 IRGC commanders when they did it, but they're hitting the logistics points … they're going to have things just right so that when they make that swing Hezbollah is going to be in the crosshairs fairly firmly, and so will the West Bank. But I think that if they have to go to war with Tehran that's going to be an altogether different proposition done under a very different strategy."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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