Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday he anticipates additional Arab nations will soon join the Abraham Accords—the normalization agreements first signed between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain on September 15, 2020, under the mediation of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“We think we will have some, or a lot of announcements, very, very shortly, which we hope will yield great progress by next year,” Witkoff said.
It was the most optimistic declaration by a government official since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain held up a piece of paper signed by himself and Adolf Hitler promising “Peace in our time” half an hour before World War II began.
The terrorist organization Hamas, a.k.a. the Palestinian Resistance Movement, was less hopeful. Following the Netanyahu cabinet’s Monday decision to launch Operation Gideon’s Chariots—which entails pressing Hamas to release the hostages, establishing a permanent security zone around Gaza, and occupying parts of the Strip—Hamas leader Bassem Naim responded: “There is no point in negotiating or considering new proposals in light of the Zionist hunger war against our people.”
Many in Israel questioned the choice of name for the upcoming operation. In the biblical story of Gideon, a key detail is that the Israelites were banned by their Canaanite oppressors from forging metal, meaning there were no such things as “Gideon’s chariots.” This is what happens when you let AI name your military operations.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The main criticism of the IDF’s previous approach to the war in Gaza under former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was that soldiers were repeatedly killed retaking areas they had already cleared, only for Hamas to swiftly regroup once troops withdrew—forcing the IDF to return at a high cost in lives. This cycle played out in places like Jabalia and Beit Lahia, which were repeatedly cleared and ultimately repopulated by hundreds of thousands of Gazans as part of the most recent hostage deal. At the time, the defense establishment blamed the political leadership for acting without a long-term strategy or viable alternatives to Hamas in those zones. The government hopes that the new operational plan will finally address that gap.
Better late than never.
There’s also talk about keeping to a minimum the risks taken by IDF soldiers to spare the lives of “innocent civilians” in Gaza. Many Israelis believe there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, judging by the images of handicapped elderly Gazans dragging themselves on their crutches to murder Jews on October 7, 2023. And so, it is believed, whenever an IDF squad reaches a target that may be populated by both terrorists and non-terrorists, rather than risk their lives by moving in for a surgical cleanup, the soldiers will be calling in an airstrike. There will be plenty of armed drones in the Gaza skies for that purpose specifically.
Qassam vs IDF in Tuffah: Onboard camera footage of an elevated Yassin 105 strike vs a tank from the 401st Armoured Brigade in eastern Gaza City. [IDF 25/4] pic.twitter.com/O09VcAVeKR
— Jon Elmer (@jonelmer) April 27, 2025
And so, barring any unexpected last-minute shifts, Hamas is set to reject Israel’s latest offer for a partial hostage deal that does not include an end to the war, paving the way for the IDF to launch a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip.
WAITING FOR TRUMP TO LEAVE
Despite the unanimous decision of Israel’s political and military echelons, the implementation of a full-scale operation in Gaza appears to be on hold, at least until after President Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East.
According to the itinerary, Trump is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia on May 13 for policy meetings, followed by an official summit on May 14. He will then travel to Doha for talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and on May 15, he is expected in Abu Dhabi to meet UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed. While no stop in Israel is currently planned, the White House has indicated that final details will be released soon.
US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he intends to make Saudi Arabia his first international destination. The visit aims to finalise an agreement for Riyadh to invest over $1 trillion in the US economy, which will be used for purchases of military equipment pic.twitter.com/JrnTOjQek5
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) March 7, 2025
If no deal is reached by the conclusion of Trump’s regional tour, Israel is expected to move forward with a major ground operation. The plan includes the destruction of Hamas infrastructure and a large-scale evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza—aimed at separating noncombatants from militants and granting the IDF maximum operational freedom.
WHAT ABOUT THE HOSTAGES?
Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, head of the IDF’s hostage command, warned the political leadership on Monday that intensified fighting in Gaza could have disastrous consequences for the remaining 59 hostages, only 24 of whom are believed to still be alive. Alon expressed grave concern for their fate, stating that expanded military operations significantly increase the risk to their lives.
In his briefing, Alon reported that the hostages are being held under harsh and, in some cases, worsening conditions. He stressed a direct correlation between the IDF’s attacks and the captors’ escalating violence, noting that frustration among kidnappers is being taken out on the Israeli captives.
In response, families of 25 hostages submitted an urgent appeal to IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and to Alon, requesting an immediate meeting to hear how the military plans to prevent harm to their loved ones during the upcoming operation.
“The quote published last night is only the latest in a series of unequivocal warnings,” the families wrote. “The current combat plan will endanger the 59 hostages. The living are in real, immediate danger, and the dead are at risk of being lost in Gaza forever.”
They are correct, of course. The question is, as always, can Israel afford to allow Hamas to continue to exist alongside the very communities its murderers decimated on October 7? To remind you, the last time Israel released more than a thousand bloodthirsty beasts in exchange for one Israeli hostage, in the Gilad Shalit deal of 2011, one of the freed beasts was Yahya Sinwar, the October 7 mastermind. I do not envy Israel’s decision-makers in this dilemma, but I’m also glad they––the right-wing lawmakers––are in charge today and not the defeatist alternative, the opposition politicians who would have surrendered to Hamas a year ago, if not earlier.
