Trump’s ‘all hell’ comments a threat to Hamas, says US VP-elect Vance

United States Vice President-elect JD Vance has said a deal between Israel and Hamas could soon be reached and the reason for the progress is “because people are terrified that there’re going to be consequences for Hamas”.

“We’re hopeful there’s going to be a deal that is struck toward the very end of [Joe] Biden’s administration – maybe the last day or two,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

He was responding to a question about what President-elect Donald Trump meant last week when he said “all hell will break out” in the Middle East if Hamas does not release the remaining captives it holds.

“It’s very clear that President Trump threatening Hamas and making it clear that there is going to be hell to pay, is part of the reason why we’ve made progress on getting some hostages out,” Vance said.

Appearing to explain the practicalities of Trump’s threat, Vance said: “Now, what does that look like? I think number one, it means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership.”

He added that “it means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organisations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership, which Donald Trump did very well for four years and he’s going to 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 after Hamas led an offensive inside Israel, killing at least 1,139 people and taking more than 200 captives. In response, Israel has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and injured more than 109,000 to date.

However, mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US are continuing to push forward with renewed efforts to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency as well as Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, are both attending the latest round of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.

On Monday, an Israeli official said an “outline of the deal is clear” and that they are awaiting Hamas’s response, Israeli outlet Channel 13 reported.

“If it responds soon, the details can be finalised within days,” the official said, according to the report.

Doubts over dismantling Hamas

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

However, analysts have long cast doubt over any such aim, asserting that destroying the ruling entity in Gaza was unrealistic.

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

“I don’t think anyone expected that Hamas would be able to withstand a yearlong onslaught of arguably the most intense bombardment and military campaign since the Second World War,” he said.

“I think it would leave its leaders quite satisfied over the future of their movement.”

Israeli columnist Gideon Levy previously expressed fears the war may become an “endless war”, calling Netanyahu’s goal of absolute victory “ridiculous”.

“There will be no defeat here. It will go on, and on and on until Israel and Hamas – mainly Israel – will realise that it leads to nowhere and it must stop at any price.”

Even Israeli military officials and politicians have questioned Netanyahu’s goal of completely dismantling Hamas. In June, the spokesman for Israel’s army Daniel Hagari said Hamas is an “idea” that could not be “demolished”.

“Hamas is a party and it is implanted in people’s hearts,” he said. “Whoever thinks that we can demolish Hamas is wrong.”

A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll in June 2024 showed that support for Hamas in Gaza and the occupied West Bank stood at 40 percent, compared with 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 settlement”.

He mocked claims by the Israeli leadership of “total victory”, pointing out that rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory for several consecutive days in December.

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