Senator Graham says Washington will not accept Gaza truce without releasing Israeli hostages

U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) made it clear during his visit to Israel on Wednesday that the United States will only accept a truce in the Gaza fighting with Hamas if it includes the release of the Israeli hostages. 

“Hamas can’t believe for a second that Israel would pause the fighting without the return of the hostages,” Graham told Israeli media mere days after the Biden administration refrained from vetoing a non-binding UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. However, the resolution did not explicitly demand the release of Israeli hostages as a prerequisite for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. 

The White House might be hoping the UNSC resolution could eventually facilitate the release of Israeli hostages and increase the inflow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

However, some believe the resolution will harden Hamas’ already militant position in the complex hostage negotiations. Hamas General Ismail Haniyeh celebrated the resolution as a “victory” during his recent meeting with the Iranian regime in Tehran. Haniyeh claimed that the resolution indicates "the unprecedented political isolation experienced by the Israeli occupation.” 

Graham dismissed the resolution as irrelevant and urged the Biden administration to avoid sending mixed signals to Jerusalem. 

“The resolution debacle for lack of a better word... will soon be behind us. The one thing that Israel cannot afford is mixed signals,” Graham argued. He underscored Washington’s position that there “will never be a ceasefire unless the hostages are released.” 

Reflecting on the broader war effort, the senior U.S. senator stressed that the Jewish state has a “moral obligation to its people to destroy Hamas” after the terrorist organization massacred at least 1,200 Israeli men, women and children on Oct. 7, an attack marking the most significant loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust.

While the Biden administration has backed Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas, Washington has increasingly voiced concerns about the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The southern Gazan city of Rafah is at the center of growing diplomatic tensions between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas’ remaining forces, which are concentrated in the Rafah area, close to the Egyptian border. However, such an operation is complicated by the presence of over one million Gazan civilians who will need to be evacuated ahead of any major military operation. Like much of the international community, the Biden administration officially opposes a major Israeli operation in Rafah due to the presence of so many civilians. 

Graham admitted there are disagreements between Washington and Jerusalem on how to proceed in the ongoing war with Hamas. 

“I think there is disagreement” between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations “about how to move forward regarding Hamas,” the senator assessed. “I hope that [this disagreement] can be resolved pretty soon, but I do know this administration agrees [that] to ask Israel not to destroy these battalions is just off the table.”

Graham noted to the Israeli prime minister: “The destruction of Hamas militarily is non-negotiable for you, me and the civilized world.”

Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials have argued it is impossible to defeat Hamas without destroying the terrorist organization’s remaining forces in Rafah.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close Netanyahu aide, recently stressed that, if necessary, Israel would fight against Hamas alone, despite international opposition. 

“It will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone. Even if the entire world turns on Israel, including the United States, we’re going to fight until the battle’s won,” Dermer pledged.