Retired Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday that it's unclear how much control Hamas has over the other terrorist factions operating in Gaza but that the four-day cease-fire is Hamas' "only chance of survival."
Holt was reacting to the news that Hamas — or one of its proxies in Gaza — violated the cease-fire 15 minutes into it Friday morning.
"I don't know that [Hamas] could have kept their word," Holt said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight" hosted by Bill Spadea. "Hamas has a command-and-control structure, but there's also the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. There's the Al-Qassam Brigades. So how much control are they showing us that they truly exhibit over their people?"
"This cease-fire lasted about 14 minutes longer than I anticipated," said retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, also appearing with Holt on Schmitt.
Regardless of whom violated the cease-fire, Holt said Hamas needs to rein in control for its own self-preservation.
"It was in their best interest to try to keep the tenets of this cease-fire going because that's Hamas' only path of survival," Holt said. "They want to turn four days into four weeks into four months. They want to try to get their survivability back and take the Israeli stated goal of finishing off Hamas, once and for all, off the table.
"And then they're heartened by an international community, including our own country, that is putting pressure on Israel to do just that."
Holt said Hamas is benefiting from remarks made Friday by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, among others, who decried the Palestinian death toll and called for a permanent cease-fire. Israel accused the prime ministers of giving "terrorism a boost."
"I was shocked to see the Spanish prime minister say that we want the cease-fire to be indefinite, non-ending, and we're gonna unilaterally go for that," Holt said. "Israel's got an uphill stream. They've got a big fight ahead of them."
Tata also criticized the U.S. for trying to stem Israel's strategic momentum.
"Shame on us, the United States, for trying to influence Israel to slow this momentum down," Tata told Spadea. "These attacks create momentum. They make people move. They make them communicate, and then that creates intelligence cycles that feed on themselves and helps achieve victory."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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