In Tel Aviv, Israel, the delicate Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is reaching its initial phase, prompting Israel to consider its next moves amidst President Donald Trump’s threats of severe action unless all hostages are freed.
Fox News Digital spoke to Israeli military experts to see how they viewed what would be in store for Hamas if the ceasefire deal collapses.
Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror (res.), a former Israeli National Security Council chief and current fellow at the JINSA think tank in Washington, emphasized that the only choice left is to restart the conflict in Gaza with full military might at their disposal.
Amidror explained, “Given the existing ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel could deploy significant forces in Gaza to dismantle Hamas. This threat of a large-scale conflict is likely why Hamas has refrained from breaking the ceasefire so far, recognizing they are unprepared for such a scenario.”
Israeli combat engineers have worked to destroy terrorist targets and locate terrorist tunnels in the “Philadelphia Corridor” along a small strip of land at the border between Egypt and Gaza. (TPS-IL/File)
“In terms of Hamas’s long-range missiles, the current capabilities are minor, if at all. Mid-range was probably reduced to approximately less than 100 total, and for short-range capabilities such as mortars and drones, it’s hard to estimate,” he told Fox News Digital.
Hayman agrees that “all hell” might entail President Donald Trump giving carte blanche to Israel to use 2,000-pound bombs or greater leeway to demolish swaths of territory using bulldozers and other heavy machinery to prevent Hamas from regenerating.
Israel might also change its fighting strategy to ensure Hamas is no longer able to regroup by retaking territory evacuated by troops in Gaza, according to Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), a former head of research in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
“Israel could mount an attack in a different way than we saw till now. Instead of taking control of areas and then leaving them, we would keep control, minimizing Hamas’s ability to rule over the population in Gaza and thus its ability to survive,” he told Fox News Digital.
Palestinians return to their homes in Gaza City, Feb. 2, 2025, after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The long-term presence of Israeli boots on the ground would likely be a precondition for actualizing Trump’s vow to “take over” and transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” an assertion Trump made alongside Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 4.
Meir Ben Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy and former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told Fox News Digital that Israel must push for “the collapse of Hamas rule, the demilitarization of Gaza and the creation of conditions to prevent this area from posing a threat to the security of Israeli citizens.”
He said these conditions are “essential to ensure that this round of fighting will be the last,” he added. “To achieve this, Israel will have to resume fighting at a time that suits it.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu informed special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting that he would convene the Security Cabinet on Monday to discuss phase 2 of the agreement.
