Hamas is running out of time to release the remaining hostages before Israel resumes military efforts in the Gaza Strip, Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security advisor, warned on Sunday.
After he was asked on the Fox News Sunday-morning program how long Hamas has to free the hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023, the U.S. official replied simply, “not long.”
Hamas’s offer to release the hostages is “bogus” and “just another stab in the heart to those poor families,” Waltz said. He said that 31 hostages have been released alive under the current ceasefire.
“President Trump’s determined to get them all out,” he said. “But Hamas cannot and will not be allowed to rule Gaza into the future.”
There are 59 hostages still in captivity, and Israeli negotiators met on Sunday with Egyptian officials to discuss the issue. U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has proposed that the current ceasefire continue through Passover and Ramadan, during which time Hamas would release 11 living hostages and half of the bodies it holds.
Israel has endorsed the plan, but Hamas remains opposed.
“We put a very sensible proposal on the table that was intended as a bridge to get to a final discussion and final resolution here, that would have incorporated some sort of demilitarization of Hamas, which must happen,” Witkoff said on Sunday on the CBS program Face the Nation. “That’s a red line for the Israelis and maybe could have led to a long-term peace resolution here.”
But it hasn’t happened so far, he said.
“Hamas came up with their own construct, essentially disavowed what we discussed, and to my mind, that was a pretty poor ending, and I hope they reconsider because the alternative is not so good for them,” Witkoff said.
Should fighting resume, Israel plans to be “very aggressive” and target Hamas’s governmental capabilities in addition to the military, according to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, of the Religious Zionism Party.