An Israel-Hamas cease-fire at this point would "reward Hamas for holding the hostages" rather than weaken the Palestinians' stance, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker said Friday on Newsmax.
"It would cause them to continue doing what they're doing, which is keeping up these low-grade persistent attacks and erosion of Israeli security," Volker said on "Wake Up America."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the deaths of Hamas and Hezbollah leadership have increased the chances that a hostage release deal will happen, and Volker agreed.
"I think that Netanyahu has put Hamas and Hezbollah in a position where they should be worried about what may be next, and therefore more inclined to seek some kind of lasting agreement which would include the release of all the hostages," said Volker. "So I think [Israel is] in a better position now as a result."
Meanwhile, Volker said he is "deeply outraged" that Americans have been held hostage by Hamas for more than 300 days, while the hostage exchange between Russia and several other nations was highly publicized.
"I, personally, as an American, am deeply outraged that we have American citizens who are continuously being held hostage by Hamas and it is not front and center of American policy to go and get them out, let alone Israeli policy," said Volker. "It should be the number one thing that we're talking about.
"Frankly, I think what we should have done a long time ago was get much more, embedded with Israel in its efforts to release hostages through direct operations. I think that the U.S. should have been in that from the beginning."
Volker also discussed threats of attacks on Israel from Iran and Hezbollah, saying that while such dangers have increased after the assassination of a key Hamas leader in Tehran, Israel already was under constant bombardment.
'The people who are living in their homes in Israel worry about a rocket attack or, a drone or missile attack, but the fact is, Iran has been attacking Israel consistently for months, if not years, through its proxies," said Volker. "They had one direct launch from Iran against Israel and we helped to bring down those missiles and drones, but this goes on constantly. You can't just be afraid of it and try to avoid it."
But since Iran has said that it will attack Israel, "we have to assume that they're going to do so," said Volker.
However, he said that the attack will likely be different than Iran's attempt in April, which was largely ineffective because the missiles and drones used flew from Iran rather than a closer nation.
"I think it's much more likely we're going to see something coming from Hezbollah, which is right across the border," Volker said. "They have thousands and thousands of missiles that they can fire, so I think that it could be a different type of response this time."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.