However, the organization may sign up to the plan just to survive, Arjakas, editor-in-chief of Diplomaatia magazine, told "Ringvaade."

The White House on Monday published Trump's detailed plan after a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking at a press conference, Netanyahu said he backs the Trump plan, adding it ensures that Israel will no longer be threatened by Hamas.
Under the terms of the plan, Hamas must hand over all hostages, both the living and the dead, to Israel within a 72-hour period.

"This plan puts very great demands on Hamas to return the hostages, provided that after that Israel will do everything that they have also promised in their vision. Netanyahu has said 'yes.' He will certainly want to add a 'but.' One must then see how many of those 'buts' there are. But at present it is more than what Hamas has said, who has not said either 'yes' or 'no,'" Arjakas said.

"Everything concerning Gaza's demilitarization, deradicalization, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the replacement of Gaza's security control with an international mission — there are very many questions here, because, in reality, it is not highly clear who should do this and how they should do it and when. These are all details which negotiators from Israel and the Arab states will strongly argue over," she continued.

Arjakas said that what may motivate Hamas on the plan is simply a desire to survive, almost two years to the day since the organization launched its attack on Israel.

"I do not believe that Hamas fighters currently seriously hope that they can achieve victory in a war against Israel. They might have hoped that before October 7, that Israel was such a house of cards that if I blow lightly and immediately, the forces opposing Israel will act and the whole country will collapse."

Far from that, Israel has also been effective in neutralizing another of the "triple-H" groups, the Iran-backed Hezbollah, and in taking on the Houthis of Yemen too.

"What we have actually seen over these two years is that Israel has been conducting active military operations in the Gaza Strip, but has also delivered serious blows to its enemies — to Hezbollah and Iran — and is also fighting the Houthis," she said.

"I do not believe that Hamas thinks they could somehow come out of the war unscathed. The question is whether they can achieve for themselves, in such a situation, where what they have been fighting about for two years, that they stay alive and find some sort of compromise, to swallow the take-or-leave deal being offered to them."

This means agreeing to the plan would essentially be an act of capitulation on Hamas' part, Arjakas added.

"A surrender in the hope that Israel will adhere to the other points of the peace plan, that it will grant people amnesty, perhaps allow them passage to some third countries if those third countries are even willing to accept those Hamas members. And that Israel will allow more humanitarian aid into the strip, is willing to accept this 'technocratic' government that should take over the management of the sector's daily life. From Hamas' perspective, this agreement presupposes a very great faith in Israel doing what it has pledged to do. Hamas members do not really have that faith. At the same time, the question is whether they also see some positive future scenario for themselves," the expert went on.

"Hamas members may come to think that there is no future for them and that they are doomed anyway, and so it is better to do that while fighting against Israel. But they may also think that their survival outweighs continuing the fight against Israel. I would not put money on predictions right now on whether they will say yes or no."

The agreement from Netanyahu — the plan was also welcomed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank — also suggests that the implementation of this peace plan could create conditions in which reigniting the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians might be viable.

"In other words it does not exclude a two-state solution. That is very important for the Arab countries, so that they give their approval to this peace plan whatsoever. The Arab states still want to see that the Palestinian national entity will not disappear there."

If Hamas ultimately does not sign on to the peace plan, however, the war will continue as it has done up until now — and with major casualties, Arjakas noted.

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