ABC News national Security and Defense analyst, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Mick Mulroy. Mick, I want to start with this back and forth between the US. And Iranian backed militants. What does it say about a potential escalation in that region and America's role in that, particularly because U. S. Troops are there to try to discourage those militants?

That's right, Jay. It does end indicate that Iran is using this to their advantage. And let's step back and look at it. They are the common denominator for many of these events. Hamas 90% of the military support comes from Iran, Hezbollah and Lebanon. Most of their support comes from Iran. Most of these militias that are attacking our positions in Syria and Iraq, their support comes from Iran. So the United States has sent assets to the region with the explicit idea of trying to deter a broader regional conflict. But that may actually be getting Iran to try to take more steps to make it more painful to the United States with these 60 plus attacks that we've seen against our positions in Syria and Iraq since October 7.

Yeah. And in the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel's war against Hamas is not going to stop after that temporary ceasefire. So what does this deal say to you about where this conflict stands right now?

So, specifically, the language in the agreement is truce, the Arabic word for truce, which means there is no presumption that the fighting will not continue after the stated time. So the entire time during this truce, you will see Hamas likely try to reposition itself to gain a military tactical advantage over the IDF tubes in Gaza. That's why they insisted that the IDF not be allowed to fly those surveillance drones because they don't want to be seen. I think the IDF and the Israeli government fully understood that's what they were giving up, but it was worth it to recover these hostages, these innocent women and children that's been hostage now for over a month.

We know that there will be some hostages left behind after this deal. What does this mean for them now?

So for the hostages that are still going to be left, they are going to look at, of course, trying to continue negotiations, using the Qataris to facilitate even more coming out. But they obviously will also look at the potential to have to have a military option, a rescue operation facilitated by Israeli Special Operations right in the middle of this big combat that's taking place, will be taking place after the truce is over in Gaza City. So you'll see troops both trying to defeat Hamas, both in buildings, in tunnels everywhere. At the same time, they'll be trying to find enough intelligence to facilitate a rescue operation. That's not the ideal way of getting a hostage out, but it is an option, and I think they'll consider it very strongly. If there's no further hostages that are coming out from negotiations.

So you talk about the military option. I mean, this is a pause in the fighting in Gaza. What does this deal and this temporary truce, as you call it, mean for the possibility of humanitarian aid also going into Gaza?

So, Jay, humanitarian aid is absolutely critical to get into Gaza right now. There is a lot of suffering. There's not enough food, not enough water. Sanitation, medical, these are all needed. Now, the concern of the Israeli government was that most of it would end up going to Hamas. I think Hamas likely had all this stored before they even attacked Israel on October 7. So it is absolutely critical it gets in there for the civilian population. Over 2 million people need this. That was part of the deal for these hostages to be released. Also part of the deal was fuel. So fuel throughout Gaza, which is important not just obviously for vehicles, but also for power generators, which are needed in the hospitals. So that was a critical component of this. The US. Obviously wanted to see that happen, and it needed to happen.

Mick Mulroy with some context for us. Mick, thank you very much.

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