Whatsapp“They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. “I don’t know how much longer we can take that … at some point we’re going to lose our patience.”
“I know we have a deal … they dribble in and keep dribbling in … but they are in really bad shape,” Trump said of the Israeli hostages.
President Trump had been referring to Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy who were released on this past Shabbat. Their condition was visibly far worse than the hostages released just before (although reports are now being released that many hostages are suffering from injuries that they are keeping private). The emaciated hostages sparked outrage in Israel and the USA.
The truth is, Hamas wants to dribble the hostages out in order to ensure humanitarian aid continues to flow into the strip. Trump appears to want to push Hamas to release all the hostages now, which of course would be a change in the deal. Either way, it appears obvious Israel is going back into Gaza to fight instead of entering the second phase of the deal - a phase which would essentially leave Hamas in power, causing Israel to lose the war.
The coming repeat invasion of Gaza will not be like the first. The IDF is entrenched in the Philadelphi Corridor and can swiftly retake whatever rubble is left in Rafah. With 90% of the buildings already damaged or destroyed across the Gaza Strip, most of the grueling work is already finished. Trump will not hold the Israeli government from using the IDF in a much more forceful way – one that will resemble the total war Israel’s rightwing had wanted from the beginning.
The idea will be for the IDF to employ a scorched earth policy in Gaza, wiping out everyone of the Jihad Nazis as fast and completely as possible. Expect it to be so bad for the Gazans that they will voluntarily move into Sinai themselves
