Mike Waltz lays out views on hostage deal and day-after in Gaza
Incoming national security advisor says on Dan Senor’s ‘Call Me Back’ podcast that Hamas ‘cannot have a role’ in governing Gaza

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U.S. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL).
Incoming White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz addressed the emerging hostage deal being negotiated between Israel and Hamas in Qatar on Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast Tuesday night.
“Those have been brutally tough negotiations. I hate the fact that we even have to enter them, into them, with a terrorist group like Hamas, but we need to get our people out and then prosecute our objectives in this conflict,” Waltz said.
“This is about imposing consequences for those who would do this type of horrendous act like we saw on Oct. 7, who would take Americans or other allies hostage. He [Trump] made it clear there’ll be nothing but downside. And I’m convinced that’s why you’re seeing this movement,” Waltz added.
The imminent hostage deal, Waltz continued, comes in part due to Hamas’ isolation, “with [Hamas political bureau leader Ismail] Haniyeh gone, with [Yahya] Sinwar gone,” and in part due to “the Trump effect.”
Waltz said that the Trump administration will “make every effort to get everyone out, living or deceased, so that they can have a proper burial.”
On a number of occasions throughout the interview, Waltz referred to getting “our people” out in the first phase of the deal, ostensibly a reference to the seven Israeli-Americans still being held in Gaza. According to information given to the Israeli press on Monday, the first stage of the deal would see the release of 33 hostages, including women, the elderly and the sick.
As Senor noted that the negotiations are “basically a done deal,” Waltz acknowledged that Israel has not yet accomplished all of its stated goals — emphasizing that “Hamas cannot have a role” in governing Gaza moving forward.
“We’ve been clear that Gaza has to be fully demilitarized, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute, and that Israel has every right to fully protect itself,” Waltz said. “So all of those pieces, all of those objectives are still very much in place. Look, I mean, Oct. 7 was a terrible day. They put everybody in a terrible position, including the Palestinian people of Gaza, whom they regularly hide behind and are willing to sacrifice, and have sacrificed, for their own sick ends and objectives. And so we need to get our people out and then we need to achieve those objectives in this war.”