PDB Situation Report | March 1st, 2025: Will Gaza Erupt Again? Cease-Fire Nears Collapse & America’s Energy Security
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What is the current status of the Gaza ceasefire?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Tensions are high as the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal inches closer to its expiration on Saturday. With no agreement yet on the fate of the remaining hostages, will Israel and Hamas return to the negotiating table or miss another round of war imminent? Former deputy assistant to the president, Robert Greenway, joins us to break it all down. Later in the show, President Trump is pushing to expand energy exploration and production to secure America's energy independence. But what does this mean for the country's national security? Well, Daniel Turner, executive director of Power of the Future, he'll join us to discuss.
But first, today's Situation Report Spotlight. The fragile Gaza ceasefire deal. It's set to expire this weekend with no agreement yet on a second phase to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Now, over the past six weeks, as I'm sure you know from following the PDB, Hamas has freed 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals. That's an initial step that mediators hoped would lead to lasting peace. But since January, both sides have accused each other of violating the deal and negotiations have stalled. Hamas is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and that's a condition that Israel refuses to accept, particularly with reports that Hamas is busy recruiting and training new fighters.
That leaves 28 Israeli hostages still believed to be alive, with their fate hanging in the balance. Beyond the ceasefire, the question of who will govern post-war Gaza, well, that remains unanswered as Israel insists Hamas cannot return to power, but has yet to propose an alternative. Joining us now to discuss is Robert Greenway. He's the former deputy assistant to President Trump and director of the Allison Center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation. Robert, thanks very much for taking the time. Great to be with you. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, go to the 30,000 foot level here. I know this is a very broad initial question, but from your perspective, where are we going with this?
We're coming up on the end of the first phase of the ceasefire with Israel and Hamas. What next from your perspective?
Yeah, it's hard to envision that we're going to get to the next phase of this. And there's a lot of reasons for it, not least of which is what's playing out in real time, is that Hamas, unfortunately, has little left other than corpses to trade. And the way in which they transfer it, all it does is aggravate and exacerbate the tensions for Israel. So where I think we're headed next is, frankly, a resurrection of military operations or resumption of military operations at scale and incrementally against Hamas. While diplomatic talks are ongoing. But Hamas, again, has very little leverage left to play. And Israel's interests are inimical to what Hamas is attempting to achieve. And they have greater latitude now that Hezbollah and Iran are less capable and less likely to engage in offensive military operations. So they may have a freer hand in doing so.
But from an internal political situation and from the general population there in Israel, do the people have an appetite for saying, fine, we're drawing a line under the ceasefire, we're reengaging with Hamas? I mean, is that something that the population is up for?
It splits a near fine line. Everyone in Israel wants a return of the hostages and or the remains. No one wants to see terrorists released and traded, but they accept the price necessary to pay. But the tolerance is drawing very, very close to almost no support to sustain it, especially when Hamas continues to drip the remains of hostages out and violate terms of the ceasefire agreement and then publicly advertise they're resurrecting their military capability. So the pressure actually is increasing domestically on the Netanyahu government to resume military operations, recognizing that there's very little return that Hamas can provide and they're unlikely to do so.
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