Huckabee says hoping Gaza ceasefire ‘a done deal’ but up to Hamas if agreement sealed

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says he hopes the ceasefire and hostage release agreement being negotiated is “a done deal,” but whether it will get across the finish line is ultimately up to Hamas.

“Let’s hope they understand it’s time for this to end… the reason it hasn’t been [ended] before is because Hamas has been unwilling to let go of their grip on these hostages,” Huckabee says in an interview with Channel 12 news.

He also insists that “Hamas has no future in Gaza.”

Asked whether US President Donald Trump is threatening to condition aid to Israel with his demands for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial to end, Huckabee doesn’t answer directly but indicates that is not the case.

“It wasn’t that he was trying to get in the middle of Israel’s business or telling the Israeli courts what they should or shouldn’t do; it was a mere observation. An observation of something that was happening to a friend that he knew happened to himself, and he was recognizing that,” Huckabee says.

Trump has “been through an enormous amount of lawfare in the United States,” and this “distracted him” from doing the job he was elected to do.

Huckabee also cites assessments by Trump and others that Iran’s nuclear sites were “obliterated” in the 12-day war, and says, “Iran’s nuclear aspirations — they’re over. They need to give it up.”

Huckabee says he has no predictions on the possible timing of an Israel-Syria agreement, but says he believes, more widely, that “we’re looking at a realignment of the Middle East.”