Michael Oren: Israeli Army ‘Low on Ammunition,’ Ceasefire Gives It a ‘Chance to Catch Its Breath’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
LLENAS: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 12:00 today which was the deadline imposed by President Trump for Hamas to release all hostages, President Trump went on Truth Social and said, look, with this exchange of the three hostages, I’ll leave it up to Benjamin Netanyahu if they’re going to end this ceasefire. It appears Netanyahu had a security meeting at noon, and the ceasefire truce continues. What’s the calculus right now, you think, when he had that meeting with his security team for Benjamin Netanyahu right now into deciding whether or not to continue with phase one of this deal?”
OREN: “That is the big question that everyone’s asking tonight, and the answer appears to be this: the army, who’s been fighting now close to 500 days, it needs a rest, low on ammunition. Give the army a chance to catch its breath and build up its arsenal again. But beyond that, if we go back to fighting in Gaza, we have to be able to say to ourselves honestly that the 30 remaining hostages who are alive may not be so because if the Israeli army had proceeded on the assumption once upon a time that if you ratchet up the pressure on Hamas, it releases terrorist, we found out when we ratchet up the pressure Hamas don’t release the terrorists, it shoots the hostages, rather. And so it’s a terrible decision that the government has to make. And I don’t think any Israeli government is prepared to go out to the population and say, listen, these reunions that we’ve seen between these families, those 30 remaining hostages are not going to have those reunions because they’re going to be executed by Hamas.”