US Vice President Vance Says Trump’s ‘Hell’ Words Threat to Hamas Israel-Palestine Conflict News

US Vice President-elect JD Vance said that a deal between Israel and Hamas could be reached soon, and that progress is being made because “people are afraid of the consequences for Hamas.”

“We hope it will be deal It was shot toward the end of the (Joe) Biden administration — maybe the last day or two,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

He answered the question about which president will be elected Donald Trump meant Last week, he said that “all hell will break loose” in the Middle East if Hamas does not release the remaining prisoners it is holding.

“President Trump threatening Hamas and making it clear that there will be hell to pay is part of the reason we’ve made progress in getting some bailouts,” Vance said.

Appearing to explain the practicalities of Trump’s threat, Vance said: “What does that look like now? “I think, first, it means giving the Israelis an opportunity to eliminate the last few battalions of Hamas and their leadership.”

He added that “this means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties against those who support terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It actually means doing the work of American leadership, which Donald Trump has done very well for four years and will do very well for the next four years.”

Months of negotiations and diplomacy have consistently failed to reach a ceasefire and end the fighting that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led an attack inside Israel, killing at least 1,139 people and taking more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel has so far killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and injured more than 109,000.

However, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States continue to push forward with new efforts to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas.

Brett McGurk, the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency and Biden’s senior advisor on the Middle East, is participating in the last round of negotiations in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

An Israeli official said on Monday that “the outline of the deal is clear” and that they are awaiting a response from Hamas, Israeli channel Channel 13 reported.

“Details can be finalized in a few days if there is a response soon,” he said, according to an official report.

Doubts about dismantling Hamas

Vance’s explanation of Trump’s warning somewhat echoes what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said — that destruction and “total victory” over Hamas was the main goal of his country’s war on Gaza.

However, analysts have long been skeptical of any such goal, arguing that destroying the ruling establishment in Gaza is unrealistic.

Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, said that while Hamas’s military capability has certainly weakened, it “retains the ability to fight and maintains the will to fight”.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be able to withstand the year-long onslaught of Hamas’ most intense bombing and military campaign since World War II,” he said.

“I think it will make their leaders very happy about the future of their movement.”

Israeli columnist Gideon Levy has previously called Netanyahu’s absolute victory goal “ridiculous,” expressing his fear that the war will “turn into an endless war.”

“There will be no defeat here. “This will continue and continue until Israel and Hamas – mainly Israel – realize that this is not going anywhere and that it must stop at all costs.”

Even Israeli military officials and politicians have questioned Netanyahu’s goal of completely dismantling Hamas. In June, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Hamas was an “idea” that could not be “taken down.”

“Hamas is a party and it’s ingrained in people’s hearts,” he said. “Those who think we can destroy everyone are wrong.”

In June 2024, a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Polling Research showed that support for Hamas in Gaza and the occupied West Bank was 40 percent, compared to 34 percent three months earlier.

Last month, Yair Golan, a former member of parliament and current chairman of Israel’s Democratic Party, said the war must end with a “political solution.”

He pointed out that several days in December, rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, and mocked the Israeli leadership’s claims of “complete victory”.