Two years ago today, Hamas carried out a pogrom against the Jewish nation of Israel. The jihadist group murdered more than 1,200 innocent people and kidnapped another 250, dozens of whom are still being held hostage. Yet thanks to anti-Israel propaganda on the political left, Hamas became the victim. Nevertheless, Israel has persevered and continues the fight to mitigate the threat that Hamas and other Iranian terror proxies like Hezbollah pose to its country and its people.

President Donald Trump is running out of patience with Hamas and recently gave the group a hard deadline on peace talks. The Gaza Strip is in ruins, and the Israel Defense Forces are systematically taking out jihadis. Hamas is even losing influence within Gaza itself.

One of the biggest victories at this juncture would be securing the release of the remaining hostages — the main stipulation in President Trump’s proposed 20-point peace plan. Israel believes there are 20 hostages who are still living and 25 who are deceased. These hostages have been used by Hamas as a bargaining chip in both previous ceasefires, and once the remaining few are released, Hamas will have no more leverage to remain in power.

On Friday, Hamas agreed to release the hostages, though it disingenuously asserts it may need more time to recover the hostages’ bodies that are buried under the rubble. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the terrorists are “confined to a few days maximum” to comply with their part of the agreement.

Talks began yesterday in Cairo to iron out the final details of the peace plan. “Everyone has agreed, including Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained, “that eventually, at some point here as this process plays out, Gaza will be governed by a Palestinian technocratic group that’s not Hamas, that are not terrorists, with the help and the assistance and the guidance of an international consortium like the board of peace.”

Trump is convinced that Israel is closer than ever to peace, reportedly even telling Netanyahu not to be “so f***ing negative” about what Hamas will or will not accept as part of the peace deal.

Yet Netanyahu has every reason to be skeptical. Even with Hamas out of power, Gaza will be extremely hard to de-radicalize. Many Palestinians believe it’s their duty to wipe Israel off the map, even raising their children to view murdering the Jews as a badge of honor. Many also celebrate October 7 as a glorious day of victory. It’s going to be a difficult road ahead, even if peace talks are successful.

Furthermore, there’s no guarantee this isn’t just another tugging of the chain to buy the terrorists more time.

With apologies to Kamala Harris, the passage of time has been Hamas’s friend. The longer this war drags on, the more people turn on Israel. The useful idiots in America are celebrating today. Canada, France, and the UK have gone so far as to declare a Palestinian state. In other words, they are reinforcing the incentive structure for terrorists worldwide to repeat this same formula.

“Hamas would parlay even a single remaining captive into concessions that help it retain power and keep millions of people trapped in its forever war on Israel,” warn The Wall Street Journal editors. “The claim that it can’t locate hostages proved hollow in the past and shouldn’t be credited today.”

Israel has a formidable military. In the event that Hamas leaders are foolish enough to keep toying with the Jewish state, the IDF will put an end to them.

“You’ve got to be strong in order to get the peace,” as Netanyahu put it. “From the pit of despair, we’ve become again the dominant power in the Middle East, perhaps stronger than we were before. That’s something that we can give thanks for.”