The chants of "ceasefire now" have been continual as major U.S. politicians have adopted and pushed the call since the first retaliation against Hamas began. For those marching in support of the terrorist government, the heinous and deadly attacks on October 7th weren't even a concern. The preservation of the status quo within Gaza was priority one, and that has always meant leaving Hamas in charge. 

Those holding that position were quick to celebrate the recent agreement that would see 50 innocent hostages exchanged for 150 terrorists and a temporary ceasefire. As RedState reported, Rep. Jamaal Bowman took a victory lap, actually attempting to take credit for that development. 

I'm grateful that our continuous calls for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages has begun to make a difference.

Soon, we'll see a 4 day ceasefire and the return of 50 hostages. Let's keep fighting until we see an end to all of the violence and bombing and the return of… https://t.co/9Rmxt9pfG2

— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) November 22, 2023

He and his cohorts now have egg on their faces. Contrary to claims that Hamas was ready for an immediate ceasefire and that civilian safety was a priority, the terrorist government is already playing games with the deal.

After Hamas committed another act of psychological terror by postponing the return of innocent hostages to Israel, thus delaying the ceasefire set to begin today, the IDF is continuing operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. https://t.co/TM6Lwe9ELt

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) November 23, 2023

If things are so dire within Gaza, why would Hamas postpone the hostage release until Friday? I think there are two possibilities, and neither should warm anyone's heart. The first is that the terrorists are having trouble acquiring all the hostages they promised to release. It is likely they are spread out among different locations and cells, and internal divisions could be boiling over. 

The other possibility is that Hamas has no intention of releasing the hostages and is just trying to string things along to garner more sympathy from the international press. ABC News jumped on that train immediately, claiming that "despite" the ceasefire agreement, the Israelis are still fighting. Of course, a real news organization would note that there is no actual ceasefire in place yet. 

Despite reaching an agreement with Hamas on a temporary cease-fire in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, the Israeli military continued to bombard the Gaza Strip this morning.

Read more about the Israel-Hamas conflict at: https://t.co/22SxrKGygX

— ABC News (@ABC) November 22, 2023

Whatever the explanation for this delay, it shows that Hamas is not to be trusted, and it shows the calls for a ceasefire were naive and dumb. Perhaps something will still develop from this that will see some hostages released, but it's clear that the ceasefire must not become permanent. People like Bowman are going to be calling for that and they should be ignored. To let Hamas survive after this nonsense would be a huge strategic mistake.