JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly has decided to conquer the entire Gaza Strip. The decision means the Israel Defense Forces would enter areas where Israel believes many of the remaining hostages are located.
CBN News talked with Ambassador Mike Huckabee about the plight of the hostages and Hamas’s betrayal of the people of Gaza.
Netanyahu announced on Monday that he will convene his cabinet to instruct the IDF on how to defeat Hamas and free the hostages.
“We must continue to stand together and fight together to achieve the war goals we have set – all of them – the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages, and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” the prime minister declared.
He added, “Later this week, I will convene the cabinet to instruct the IDF on how to achieve these three goals, all of them, without exception.”
Those three goals come amid a battle between the U.S., Israel, and Hamas over who controls getting food to the people of Gaza.
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee accompanied Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff on a visit to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. President Trump sent them on a mission to report on the U.S. and Israeli-backed effort that has provided more than one hundred million meals to hungry Gazans in a little more than two months.
“The most important thing I saw was the efficiency of the GHF operation, which, by the way, Hamas hates,” the ambassador told CBN News. “They said it was the second most important thing to get rid of if they’re going to get a deal to let the hostages go. What does that tell you? It’s working. And the people of Gaza get the food for free, and Hamas can’t steal it.”
Huckabee also talked with some of the Gaza residents at the distribution site.
“They don’t want Hamas there anymore. They’re sick of them. But they also have no mood to have the PLO, or Fatah, or one of the other Palestinian organizations run Gaza in the future.”
Huckabee continued, “I think it’s moving in the right direction. I think it’s interesting that most of the Gulf States recognize that, saying that Hamas must disarm. Let all the hostages go. Maybe we need to get that message to France, the U.K., Canada, and Ireland.”
All of those countries are calling for a Palestinian state.
Huckabee elaborated, “What I would say to them is, ‘You’ve given Hamas a wonderful gift. You’ve made it much easier for them to hold onto the hostages. Why don’t you put the pressure on Hamas instead of Israel? Why don’t you do something to help the hostages rather than hurt them? And why don’t you do something to stand behind the country that was attacked rather than the people who did the attacking?’”
The ambassador’s comments come after Hamas released a video of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, digging what he feared would be his own grave.
“You want to see starvation in Gaza?” he asked. “Look at the hostages, that’s who’s being starved. And look at how well fed the Hamas members appear to be.”
Huckabee also called out the international media for its reporting on events inside Gaza.
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“The coverage has been deplorable. The sad part is (that) most of the information comes from Hamas. When they say that IDF soldiers are just mass shooting at innocent people coming to feeding sites – that’s a lie. They’re the ones who are murdering people. They’re murdering them for coming to get food that they didn’t have to pay for. And then they blame it on Israel.
Huckabee believes the saddest part is that “the international media just buys it – hook, line, and sinker – reports it as truth and perpetuating one of the biggest lies in all of history.”
Given the challenges Israel is facing, Huckabee says people need to pray.
“I hope people will recognize that Israel is in a very tough place,” he told us. “They need to pray that Israel can get this over with. But most importantly, pray that all the hostages come home. I think President Trump is on the right path when he says Hamas has to go and has no future in Gaza. I hope people will listen to the President.”
