By Invitation:
It has been more than 400 days since children, women, and the elderly were taken hostage by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas, and the group has chosen a path of defiance when it comes to releasing the hostages. They have declined every move made so far by mediators and seemed to have absorbed the pressure mounted on them so far, but one pressure is left.
October 7 might have come and gone, but Hamas is still paying the price of the genocide they committed. The terrorist group has been degraded and left with nothing, to the point they can’t muster rockets as before. They are surrendering and giving up their guns from their hideouts; they raise the white flags and plead for their lives, but they have not surrendered the most important thing to Israel. Israel wants the hostages back home, but Israel is determined to keep hold of them.
When Hamas invaded Israel last year on October 7, they didn’t know that Gaza would become what it is today. They never imagined or dreamed that the IDF would enter Gaza—reach their core hideouts and eliminate their leaders, from top to bottom. Had Hamas known that their condition would be what it is today, they would not have invaded Israel and killed innocent people.
At this stage, and because Hamas is now holding out, rejecting every ceasefire proposal thrown at them, it is pertinent to communicate to them what will happen afterwards. Netanyahu needs to pass a clear message of intent, that on no condition will Israel abandon the hostages, and also that the more the hostages stay in Gaza, the higher the price Hamas and the entire Gaza will pay for it.
Israel must begin to make plans of annexation. Gaza must be annexed, and the choice must be made clear to Hamas and their leaders: either you release the remaining hostages or Gaza will be annexed, and with Israeli sovereignty, the hostages will be technically rescued because they would be in sovereign Israel, irrespective of their final conditions.
The hostages being held by Hamas is the moral justification Israel has for annexation, and it places Hamas in a position it cannot rightly put out a case against Israel. It must be obvious that there is an opportunity to save Gaza by releasing the hostages or lose Gaza by keeping them.
The option must be made clear to Hamas and their leaders: to choose between holding the hostages and losing Gaza forever or releasing the hostages and giving Gaza a lifeline. Hence Hamas and its leaders care less about the condition of the inhabitants of Gaza; there appears to be no other option than annexation. It means Hamas and its leaders have no interest in Gaza, and they should rightly lose Gaza forever.
There is something well etched in the sub-consciousness of Hamas and its leaders, and that is the belief that it would use the hostages for negotiation on its own terms. It appears to believe that if it continues to hold the hostages, it will be able to return to the status quo. It so confidently believes that in the end, the IDF would accept a deal that would ensure withdrawal so it could continue to rule Gaza in exchange for the hostages.
However, any deal that would preserve Hamas and allow it to return to governing Gaza would amount to failure for the IDF. Many sons and daughters of Israel have lost their lives; the war has cost so much and exacted a significant price on Israel, and everything will be in vain as soon as a deal to allow Hamas to rule with IDF withdrawal is forced on Israel.
There is undue pressure internally and externally on the Prime Minister, but he has been able to absorb them all and continue the war. Hamas is motivated by the internal pressure as a result of protests against the government. Allies of Israel have also wrongly applied pressure on Israel instead of piling pressure on Hamas, and the actions of allies of Israel give Hamas motivation to continue to hold out.
Aside from militarily occupying Gaza, Israel must make provision for the civilian occupation of the Strip. The Strip was made a staging ground against Israel and continues to be used as a hideout. The people of Israel must take over the Strip; after all, Hamas and Palestinians don’t need it anymore, and they only want it to be used as a staging ground for more invasions.
I know it’s not easy, and the pressure that comes with it is massive, but the lives of the hostages and the honour of their families are at stake. The torment the hostage families go through and the sufferings of the live hostages have made any affirmative action justified. Israel must do everything possible to get the hostages out, and in a worst-case scenario, the hostages should consider Gaza their legitimate home.
Prime Minister Benjamin is long enough in the business of leadership to know that hard circumstances deserve tough decisions. The hostages must not be allowed to suffer the worst fate; instead, Hamas should be made to understand that the hostages are so powerful to the point they could determine the fate of the entire Gaza.
It’s not on the agenda of the Prime Minister to annex Gaza, but circumstance appears to force it upon him. Withdrawal without ensuring that Hamas never exist again is an error, because Hamas has vowed that they would repeat October 7 again and again, and by virtue of that confession, they have nothing to do with leadership or existence in Gaza.
The message to Hamas is simple: release the hostages or lose the land for the sake of peace and justice.
Ifeanyichijioke97@gmail.com
