Will Netanyahu leave Hamas in power?

With the war in Iran over for now, Prime Minister Netanyahu is under very heavy pressure from President Trump and others to end the war in Gaza immediately, even if this means Hamas remains in control of the Strip, as it has consistently demanded since October 7.

At least some media outlets, such as Yediot Acharonot, believe that Netanyahu has now shifted his approach to freeing the hostages rather than eliminating Hamas as a threat, though some say he was misinterpreted, and that he meant there were now new options for freeing the hostages.

Channel 14 reporter Tamir Morag believes that Netanyahu will not give up the goal of removing Hamas as a threat for the following reasons, in a post he published on X today (Monday):

"1. Netanyahu understands that the survival of the entity responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust would be a strategic disaster: It would be perceived by the axis of evil as a massive victory and would fuel tremendous motivation to recover and resume the plan to destroy Israel. The achievements of the war would, to a large extent, be erased.

"2. Netanyahu is a man with a deeply developed historical consciousness. He knows that nothing can erase the stain of October 7th, but there is only one achievement that could dim it—not Hezbollah, not Iran—only a total and decisive victory over Hamas.

"3. Netanyahu has no government and no future with a deal that leaves Hamas in power. Ben Gvir and Smotrich would send him to elections, and the right-wing electorate—which is wholeheartedly devoted to the goal of eliminating Hamas without letting other war achievements overshadow it—would send him home."