If people in the West—including policymakers and self-styled experts—paid more attention to the videos and articles published by MEMRI, an organization that translates publications and other media from the Middle East and Russia, and collates information about anti-Semites and neo-Nazis in the West, they might find themselves less surprised by events like those of last weekend. But for a more general overview of Gaza’s history over the past 60 years, and a judicious analysis of the present situation, I recommend Dan Senor’s interview with the Mosaic contributor Jonathan Schanzer on the Call Me Back podcast.

Among much else, I learned from this conversation of a time when Israel actually occupied the Gaza Strip, commerce and movement between the territory and the rest of Israel were easy and frequent, and Jews raised in Arab lands regularly visited to experience familiar sights and smells, hear and speak their native language, and the like. Then a power struggle between Palestinian factions unleashed a wave of anti-Jewish violence, and everything changed. (Audio, 58 minutes.)

Information about a supposedly near-finalized hostage deal continued to trickle out yesterday. While it’s entirely possible that by the time you read this a deal will be much more certain, it is every bit as likely that it will have fallen through by then. More likely still, we will learn that there are indefinite and unspecified delays. Then there are the details: even in the best of scenarios, not all the hostages will be returned at once, and Israel will have to make painful concessions in exchange, including the release of hundreds of hardened terrorists and the withdrawal from key parts of the Gaza Strip.

Unusually—if entirely appropriately—the president-elect’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has participated in the talks alongside members of President Biden’s team. Philip Klein examines the incoming Trump administration’s role in the process:

President-elect Trump has repeatedly warned that there would be “all hell to pay” if hostages were not returned from Gaza by the time he takes office. While he has never laid out exactly what the specific consequences for Hamas would be, there are some ominous signs that Israel is being pressured into paying a tremendous price.

There is obviously more here than we know. It’s possible that with the pressure from the Trump team came reassurances that Israel would have more latitude to reenter Gaza as necessary to go after Hamas than it would have enjoyed under Biden. . . . That said, all appearances are that Israel has been forced into making more concessions because Trump was concerned that he’d be embarrassed if January 20 came around with no hostages released.

While Donald Trump’s threats are a welcome rhetorical shift, part of the problem may be their vagueness. After all, it’s unlikely the U.S. would use military force to unleash hell in Gaza, or could accomplish much in doing so that the IDF can’t. More useful would be direct threats against countries like Qatar and Turkey that host Hamas, and threats to the persons and bank accounts of the Hamas officials living in those counties. Witkoff instead praised the Qatari prime minister for “doing God’s work” in the negotiations.”