Hamas is five weeks into its ceasefire deal with Israel that is scheduled to end on March 2. As part of the deal, 29 living hostages were returned to Israel.

Over the weekend, the Islamic Resistance Movement sent the remains of a fifth person after it was discovered that the person they claimed to be Shiri Bibas was confirmed by forensic intelligence to be an anonymous woman. The group initially sent the bodies of Bibas’s two children, Ariel and Kfir, along with a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, on Thursday. It wasn’t until Saturday that Bibas’s body returned to Israel.

Fox News host Lawrence Jones asked Waltz on Fox & Friends on Monday if this recent mix-up should be interpreted as Hamas not listening to the U.S. president.

“Hamas has listened to the president,” Waltz said. “Twenty-nine hostages are alive today and reunited with their families because the whole world listened when President Trump said there will be all hell to pay after the Biden Administration couldn’t get this done for 15 months. So, absolutely, they are. They’re afraid of President Trump. Period. That’s why we have seen any movement at all.”

This came after Waltz called Hamas’s handling of the hostages’ remains “unacceptable.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Hamas would pay the “full price” for this event. Waltz suggested this sort of action “shouldn’t surprise anyone” because Hamas is “a terrorist organization no different than ISIS.”

KRISTI NOEM CELEBRATES DECREASED BORDER CROSSINGS

“At the same time, though, Hamas will not rule Gaza. Period. They have a couple of off-ramps that we put on the table. But, Hamas will not rule Gaza,” Waltz continued. “They will not cause another October 7th. And we will work with Israel to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

For its part of the ceasefire deal, Israel agreed to release over 1,500 Palestinians held in its prisons, withdrew its forces from populated areas of Gaza, and let in a surge of humanitarian aid into the territory. U.S. negotiators began discussions on phase two of the ceasefire.