'Trying' is not enough; we must keep all eyes on the hostages prize

Declarations like Trump’s  - at this delicate stage – threaten to not only overturn the cart but smash it to smithereens.

By DAVID BRINN FEBRUARY 5, 2025 13:20

Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and activists protest for the release of all the hostages in Gaza, outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 3, 2025. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The headlines flew fast and furiously out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump.

The US taking control of Gaza… Saudi normalization… West Bank annexation. It was as if Trump could already feel the Nobel Prize for Peace dangling around his neck. And Netanyahu? It was probably music to his ears, in his first meeting with the new president after four tumultuous years dealing with Joe Biden.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too," Trump told reporters in his bombshell announcement. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site."

"We're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of. I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East."

Netanyahu didn’t respond specifically to Trump’s proposal but thanked him "thinking outside the box with fresh ideas" and "showing willingness to puncture conventional thinking."

US President Donald Trump (R) meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. (credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

In his remarks standing alongside Trump platitudes, Netanyahu repeated the mantra that he’s been spouting since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War.

War goals

“In Gaza, Israel has three goals: Destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, secure the release of all our hostages, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

What was striking from both leaders is how little they spoke about the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the second phase of the deal, which is supposed to be negotiated starting this week.

So far, 13 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released in the painful first phase, which has seen the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from prison.

As the brother of one hostage who was not on the list of 33 in the first phase said on Wednesday, the last two weeks of hostage releases, the joy and relief at seeing them walk to freedom, and their emotional reunions with their families has been “Israel’s victory.”

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There’s a chance that the country can begin to heal from the tragedy of October 7, but only with the continuation of the hostage releases. There are still 20 Israelis slated to be released in the first phase, 12 of them reportedly still alive according to Israel.

The focus on getting them out, and on continuing the process on to a second phase which will see the release of the remaining 79 hostages, should be the only focus right now.

We saw how precarious the process is, with last week’s chaotic release of Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes. It could have turned south in a heartbeat. Anything that could overturn the cart and stop the continuation of phase 1 and the negotiations for phase 2 should be avoided at all costs.

Declarations like Trump’s  - at this delicate stage – threaten to not only overturn the cart but smash it to smithereens.

Netanyahu and Trump, in their statements and subjects they focused on, seemed to portray the hostage release as an afterthought.

When asked by a reporter if Israel would continue to the second phase, Netanyahu answered, “we’ll try.”

Trying is not enough, and declaring that destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities is still the primary goal on par releasing more hostages is disheartening.

The focus of all of the Washington meetings and of the Israeli and US leadership in these fateful days should be about assuring that the first phase of the ceasefire continues and that the second phase is launched.

The vitally critical issues of what happens to Hamas and whether Gaza becomes Trump’s Middle East ‘Riviera’ need to wait. So will the Nobel Peace Prize.

Get the hostages home.  All eyes in this game should focus on that holy prize.