Brit Hume Says Israel May Do Something It Has Avoided

Veteran political analyst Brit Hume issued a sobering assessment Monday night, suggesting Israel may soon be forced to reoccupy the Gaza Strip—nearly two decades after its unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Appearing on Special Report with Bret Baier, Hume framed the development not as a political choice but as the likely consequence of a stalled campaign, failed diplomacy, and a deteriorating regional balance of power.

Fox’s @brithume: “Here we are, after all this, and it looks like Israel could be back in Gaza and taking charge of the place. Wow.” pic.twitter.com/DMkq21MdsA

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) May 5, 2025

“The president himself obviously would like to have some progress toward the release of the hostages and the other remaining issues with Hamas. But that remains up in the air as well with the possibility now existing that the Israelis are going to do what they stopped doing in 2005. When they got out of Gaza, they occupied the place, as you recall, Bret, for a long time, and the Israelis pulled out in 2005,” Hume said. “That didn’t stop Hamas from complaining bitterly about the continued occupation, which was no more. But here we are after all this, and it looks like Israel could be back in Gaza and taking charge of the place. Wow.”

Hamas hasn’t released a living hostage in months.

The remarks came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved a sweeping expansion of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. The plan reportedly includes retaking strategic areas of Gaza and assuming direct control over humanitarian aid distribution—an operational and symbolic shift that would reverse decades of Israeli policy and likely intensify the geopolitical fallout.

Netanyahu has described the campaign as an “intensive” offensive designed to dismantle Hamas’s command infrastructure. But the scale of the proposed operations has raised fresh questions about Israel’s long-term objectives—and whether the government now views reoccupation as a necessary evil rather than a temporary tactic.

The growing prospect of reoccupation comes as the regional conflict spirals outward, noted The Daily Caller. Iran-backed Houthi militants have ramped up missile attacks—including a recent strike near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport—prompting Israeli counterstrikes and continued U.S. air operations in Yemen. Hume questioned the efficacy of American intervention. “Despite U.S. bombing runs,” he noted, “the Houthis are still firing missiles. That raises real doubts about the viability of current U.S. strategy.”

Efforts to broker a ceasefire or secure the release of hostages remain stalled. Hamas has rejected recent U.S. proposals, and Israel resumed large-scale military operations in mid-March. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is expected to meet with U.S. officials this week, but expectations are low—and the underlying diplomatic architecture appears all but collapsed.

President Donald Trump, characteristically blunt, has both criticized Israel’s execution of the war and issued stark warnings to Iran. He floated the possibility of U.S.-led oversight in Gaza, calling the coastal enclave a “symbol of death and destruction.” The proposal—untethered from any clear enforcement mechanism—was met with silence in Jerusalem and skepticism in Washington.

Hume’s warning captures a larger shift in Israel’s war posture. What began as a targeted campaign to degrade Hamas’s capabilities is now veering toward a broader occupation scenario—one that Israel once rejected on both strategic and moral grounds. Yet with Hamas emboldened, ceasefire diplomacy paralyzed, and American deterrence visibly fraying, the return to Gaza may no longer be theoretical. It may be imminent.

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