John Spencer, the West Point Professor of Urban Warfare who concluded from his study of the IDF’s campaign in Gaza that “Israel implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires,” has now offered thoughts on what Israel must do to “finish the job in Gaza.” More of his thoughts can be found here: “‘Finishing the Job’ in Gaza: What It Means and What It Takes,” by John Spencer, X, July 26, 2025:
Hamas has refused to negotiate the return of hostages or discuss disarmament. In a brief exchange about his disappointment in Hamas, President Trump recently said, “It got to a point where you’re gonna have to finish the job.” But what does “finishing the job” in Gaza actually mean? What options remain, what is likely to happen next, and what would help?…Global recognition of Israel’s legitimate and just war objectives must be the starting point. Many voices calling for an immediate ceasefire argue, implicitly or explicitly, that the war can end without removing Hamas’s military capabilities or political power. Some even suggest that if Hamas were to return the hostages, often in exchange for hundreds of prisoners, the war should stop….
Spencer argues that Hamas is like a tumor that, unless it is completely removed, can grow back and again become a threat to the existence of the Jewish state. It must not be allowed to retain any power, military or political, in Gaza, because if it is left standing, even if greatly weakened, it will present itself to the world as having won a victory. And it will attract new recruits to replace those killed by the IDF, rebuild those of its tunnels that the IDF had destroyed, and renew its supply of weapons, smuggled in from Egypt at the Rafah Crossing, to be turned against the hated Jews.
Humanitarian assistance should not prolong Hamas’s rule. That means aid must be delivered through mechanisms that do not rely on or empower Hamas. The U.S.–Israeli initiative known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), launched in May, has demonstrated a successful model. In just five weeks, GHF has delivered nearly 100 million meals directly to civilians, feeding one to two million Gazans per day. The key is bypassing Hamas and removing food from its system of control and coercion. By restoring food access outside of Hamas control, Israel helps shift civilian reliance away from the terror group’s shadow governance….
Israel is now delivering aid in massive amounts through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, aid which so far Hamas has been unable to steal, as it did so readily when the aid was being distributed by Hamas-linked UNRWA. The GHF has provided more than 91 million meals to Gazans just since May.
While headlines often focus on Hamas-driven chaos and warnings of famine, the reality on the ground is beginning to shift. More food is now flowing into Gaza. Hundreds of United Nations aid trucks are being distributed daily. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) continues to deliver up to two million meals a day across four sites. It has also established a system that allows approved groups to pick up aid and deliver it to the most vulnerable areas….
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the entry into Gaza of 94,000 truckloads of aid. And since the GHF started sending in food in May, the Israel-backed group has provided 1.5 million meals to Gazans. Yet much of the world insists that Israel is “deliberately starving” the people of Gaza. The only group starving the people of Gaza is Hamas, which systematically steals aid in order to resell it to the Gazans to whom it was supposed to be provided for free.
The Israel Defense Forces will continue to re-enter contested areas to systematically target Hamas fighters, collect intelligence on the location of hostages, dismantle Hamas infrastructure, and clear Gaza of their military presence.
The IDF now controls about 75-80% of Gaza. It is in the process of destroying Hamas in the remaining 20-25% of the Strip, mostly in northern Gaza. It still has hundreds of miles of tunnels to find and destroy as well. This effort to take over the part of Gaza where Hamas is still a threat has to be done in a capillary fashion, neighborhood by neighborhood, even house by house. Trump wants the Israelis to hurry up and “finish the job” of destroying Hamas, but may not realize that with practically every building boobytrapped by Hamas, the IDF has to be slow and methodical in its searches and in setting off controlled explosions. This can’t be rushed.
To be clear, this is not a call for a forever war in Gaza. This is a clear-eyed statement of what it will take to accomplish step one of the “clear, hold, build” model. There can be no holding or building anything until the guns are taken from Hamas. Defeating Hamas’s control over territory and the population is the essential first step. Nothing else can exist in Gaza until that is done.
Until Hamas is eradicated in Gaza, Israel cannot make plans for “the day after.” Who will take control of the Strip? The Palestinian Authority is one possibility, but like the leaders of Hamas, those who head the PA have a long record of diverting aid to their own account. Mahmoud Abbas and his two sons Yasser and Tareq have amassed a family fortune of $400 million; his loyalists have had to be content with a few million apiece. And Abbas is unlikely to be approved of by the Israelis to take over Gaza for another reason. Mahmoud Abbas insists he will continue with his “Pay-For-Slay” program, that provides large monthly stipends to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of terrorists killed during their attacks, which means he wants to reward past and incentivize future acts of terror. This should make Abbas, and the PA, unacceptable to Israel, and to the United States, as the future rulers of Gaza.
Another, much more acceptable possibility, is for one or more of the Sunni Arab countries of the Gulf to take over in Gaza. The most likely candidate is the UAE, that is virulently opposed to Hamas, is the Arab state most friendly toward Israel, and possesses the deep pockets — the hundreds of billions of dollars — that will be necessary to rebuild infrastructure in Gaza.
Peacelover says
Sometimes I wonder if Trump has Any clue on this situation or rather,does he have Any knowledge of Islam and it’s goals?
somehistory says
It seems to me, and I could be wrong because I don’t personally know him and have never spoken to him, that he *knows* probably a lot more than he shows, but is not absolutely sure what to do about it.
There are so many, inside and outside the government, and in other governments, who will go ballistic if they hear him tell all of what those of us here know about islime and the goals of mozzies.
Peacelover says
Yeah,that Has occurred to me,thanks
Peacelover says
Yeah,that has occurred to me,thanks{appreciate your comment/reply}
somehistory says
thank you, Peacelover.
gravenimage says
While Trump is basically against Jihad terror and that is a good thing–it *should* be a baselin fr any Western leader, but clearly irt is not–but he seems to understand little about Islam and the existntial threat it presents to us.
Wellington says
Arguably at present, Hamas is “merely” the secondary problem, awful and evil as it is, with the primary problem being idiot Western nations like the UK, France and Canada about to recognize a Palestinian state. Doing so will reward the “secondary problem” immeasurably.
Again is being demonstrated that Islam is NOT the main problem, problem though it is, but rather the West losing its collective mind (and guts).
OLD GUY says
It maybe losing its mind and guts, but it also probably is being bought with oil money from the Arab/muslim world.
Trump I’m sure is holding his cards close and is receiving intel and updates daily from his staff.
There are NO easy solutions to this situation being pulled in different directions by political and financial leaders around the world.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Wellington.
Walter Sieruk says
“Finnish the Job it Gaza” should really mean as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is right when he earlier declared that “Hamas must be destroyed.” More recently, he vowed to “End Hamas”
The reason why this is so is because when it comes to those brutal cruel vile heinous malicious and murderous jihadist savages of Hamas it’s “Either kill or be killed.”
So, Hamas needs to be hit long and hard and it should to hit with much military might and. struck great power repeatedly until it’s completely destroyed. As it had been also, rightly said “Half –measures is folly and madness.”
For the jihadists of Hamas will not respond to reason or logic , in others words, they cannot and will not be reasoned with. The only language that are able to understand is that of being the receiving end of a power of a great military might. As Thomas Jefferson had ,rightly ,written “With every barbarous people…force is law.”
Even the leftist US President Franklin D. Roosevelt with all liberal socialist had very wisely declared, “No compromise can end that conflict. There never has been—there never can be—successful compromise between good and evil. Only total victory can reward the champions of tolerance, and decency, and freedom, and faith.”
Prime Minister Benjamin had revealed knowledge and wisdom by his statement about the need to about the very important and necessary need to engage in the “Elimination of Hamas.”
Walter Sieruk says
Part of “Finnish the in Gaza” should mean rejecting so called “ceasefire” that the jihadist chiefs of the murderous jihad entity Hamas would agree for would be a hoax . Meaning nothing but a false and fake truce.
The reason why this is so is because such a “ceasefire” would not really be agreed to is because it’s a ploy for Hamas to restore its loses by using that for Iran to resupply it with deadly weapons provided to it by Iran.
Those jihadists would only keep the terms of a ceasefire only as long as it would site them and no longer .Then those Muslim terrorists of Hamas will then break the “truce” and then launch more jihad missile attacks murdering the peaceful civilians of the State of Israel.
Likewise, the Muslim terrorists of Hamas would also sneak into Israel from Gaza and hand held weapons of death and inflect murderous jihad massacres on the Jewish people of Israel.
That so called “ceasefire” that the jihadist chiefs of the murderous jihad entity Hamas would agree for would be a hoax . Meaning nothing but a false and fake truce.
The reason why this is so is because such a “ceasefire” would really be agreed to in order to allow Hamas to restore its loses by using that for Iran to resupply it with deadly weapons provided to it by Iran.
Those jihadists would only keep the terms of a ceasefire only as long as it would site them and no longer .Then those Muslim terrorists of Hamas will then break the “truce” and then launch more jihad missile attacks murdering the peaceful civilians of the State of Israel.
Likewise, the Muslim terrorists of Hamas would also sneak into Israel from Gaza and held weapons of death and inflect murderous jihad massacres on the Jewish people of Israel.
somehistory says
“ICYMI: Inside Hamas’s Scheme To Steal Aid, Fund Terror, and Fool the World
The Free Beacon’s Andrew Tobin reports from Gaza
Washington Free Beacon”
Jul 31
a few excerpts
“Fifty trucks arrived yesterday at warehouses in Gaza City, and Hamas stole all of the aid,” Moumen Al-Natour, a 30-year-old lawyer in the northern Gaza capital, said on Tuesday. “Today, the aid went on sale in the black markets at very high prices.”
Al-Natour said a childhood friend, seeking to feed his family, joined a hungry mob trying to loot the trucks and was trampled to death along with a number of other civilians.
Gazans and Israeli military officers say this has been the reality in Gaza since fighting resumed in March. Hamas exerts near-total control over U.N.-led aid operations and seizes nearly all the incoming goods to feed and finance its terrorist regime, according to the people. Rather than confront the problem, U.N. officials have effectively aligned with Hamas, prolonging the war and the suffering of Gazans, the people say.”
somehistory says
‘READ MORE: How the ‘Neutral’ UN Is Helping Hamas Oppress Gazans and Fool the World”
gravenimage says
Grimly true. The UN is not what it prtnds to be to the civilized world.
Patrick says
First – Wipe out Hamas!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I believe that’s what “Finish the job” means. He’s sick of the hostage situation dragging on
gravenimage says
Yes–that so many expect Israel to leave her people as starved and tortured hostages for Hamas is appalling.
john says
Gaza is Israel’s land historically or by UN legal declaration. Israelis were thrown out for a terror state to be instituted. Israelis should return with others and build a beautiful place with the Gazans removed.
ploome says
regarding:
“Spencer argues that Hamas is like a tumor that, unless it is completely removed, can grow back and again become a threat to the existence of the Jewish state’
Hamas is islam. Like a tumor that, unless it is completely removed, can grow back and again become a threat to the existence of the WORLD
Michael Dickman says
Best would be to disperse all Palestinians to their preferred country in the Middle East area and bulldoze Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea.
gravenimage says
What Does ‘Finish the Job in Gaza’ Mean?
……………………………
Israel needs to be able to finish taking out Hamas.