President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office was a “critical element” that brought the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release across the line, but the deal could still fall apart, Brent Sadler, a retired Navy captain and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Newsmax Sunday.
“[It is] a tradition in this region for good deals to fall apart or to never really get off the ground. So being cautiously optimistic, I think, is the right approach to this,” Sadler told Newsmax’s “Sunday Report.” “And just to remind everyone, there are still Americans that are being held and that we don’t know the conditions of. And really, we won’t be beyond this until all the Americans are back home.”
The first three hostages released from Gaza arrived in Israel hours after the ceasefire started. They have been identified as Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were set to be released. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival and the others were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen.
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