Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff got it exactly right Monday: Hamas must leave the Gaza Strip.
If it refuses, the war to eradicate it must continue.
“There’s no logical or rational choice for [Hamas] other than to leave,” says Witkoff.
That bluntness echoes President Donald Trump’s tough warnings that “all hell is going to break out” unless the terror group releases all the hostages.
And that’s just what it might take to move things along in the Middle East.
The current holding pattern features a flurry of negotiating — whether to move the cease-fire from Phase 1 (which ended March 1) to Phase 2 or some other arrangement.
But that’s largely a sideshow to the central reality: Regardless of any talks, cease-fire or even the fate of the hostages, Hamas simply must not remain alive and well in Gaza.
The key point of this war has always been destroying the Oct. 7 perpetrators and ensuring no such horror can ever happen again.
Yes, Hamas is now enjoying a de facto cease-fire without releasing any more hostages, even though it’s shown no willingness to lay down its arms, surrender or even evacuate its fighters away from Israel’s border.
Meanwhile, someone on Team Trump sent clueless Adam Boehler off to talk directly with Hamas.
That mission not only broke a longstanding practice of not negotiating directly with the terrorists, it infuriated many Israelis by suggesting Washington was acting naively behind Jerusalem’s back, creating daylight between the two allies.
Even Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken admits that when Hamas sees daylight, it only hardens its position.
Worse, Boehler actually called the Hamas negotiators “pretty nice guys”; he had to tweet to clarify, “they are BY DEFINITION BAD people.” Ouch.
Israel is now stepping up pressure on Hamas by cutting off aid and electricity to Gaza, but it’ll likely take more than that to dislodge Hamas.
Fortunately, Team Trump (unlike Joe Biden’s crew) seems to know it.
If Jerusalem believes it has something to gain by holding off military action for now, fine.
But either way, it knows what it (with US help) must ultimately do: End Hamas’ rule in Gaza once and for all.
