One-time Israel double agent and son of a Hamas founder Mosab Hassan Yousef warned there is "no such thing" as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas until Iran’s supreme leader is removed from power.

"This is an open war, and I'm afraid that we haven't seen the worst of it yet," Yousef told Fox News Digital. "And let me tell you something: This whole thing is only for one purpose – to just bring the hostages back, and whenever there is an opportunity to just bring the hostages, I think this is where Israel is compromising."

"But, eventually, this war is not going to stop until Islamists are removed from power, and I'm afraid now that we are coming to realize, without removing ayatollah from power, the Middle East would never experience peace and prosperity," Yousef said.

The son of a Hamas founder details in his new book, "From Hamas to America," the deeply psychological impact of his harrowing life as a member of Hamas, his time as a double agent working for the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and his exit to America after a decade of service.

This provides Yousef a unique perspective on the conflicts in the Middle East, and his message is stark: "A cease-fire now, a temporary cease-fire that could bring some of the hostages back home alive is not a bad thing, but I’m afraid that this is just a temporary situation."

"The approach of the current administration that is hesitant, that is trying to please everybody, to win votes… well, this is a short, political interest at the expense of the fundamentals of the country," Yousef argued.

"I think this is where Hamas can sense the compromise, when they see their hesitation, when they see the conflict within the administration, when they sense hypocrisy, they know that the politicians have been compromised," he said. "And this is when they can actually find a way to infiltrate and to press toward creating more division and more chaos."

Yousef stressed that the result of the U.S. presidential election will not impact Hamas or Iran’s other proxy groups, who will "hate America – it doesn’t matter who’s in office," but he did worry about a president who "is not firm enough, not strong enough behind the fundamentals of America."

In previous conversations, Yousef has expressed his frustration with college campus protesters in the U.S., saying that students "found an angry cause, and this is very dangerous to advocate on behalf of something they don’t understand."

"Many people don’t understand that by legitimizing violence, let’s say in the Middle East, for example, by justifying or validating the acts of killing innocent civilians indiscriminately or by raping women, by killing children, by kidnapping civilians, by killing people in their living rooms – if they think that is a legitimate thing by the name of resistance or… occupation, colonialism, whatever it is… they are inciting violence," he said.

"It’s about principle, and many people have been indoctrinated with so many strange ideologies," Yousef continued. "We have Islamists and communists, socialists – all type of extreme opposites have been at play since the beginning of this conflict."

The Free Press’ Bari Weiss earlier this month related how the Palestinian community ostracized her for condemning the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, saying it "put me in a very dangerous position" and that she has been "called a traitor multiple times by multiple people."

Yousef grew up in the West Bank amid limited opportunities and resources, with many of his classmates either dropping out of school or working manual labor in Israel. He was taught to fear Jews and only met Israelis in "uniform" when he turned 27.

Yousef, in his book, discusses his life as a member of Hamas, including sexual abuse he suffered as a child and his time in Israeli prisons before agreeing to work with Shin Bet. He ultimately fled to the U.S., where he continues to live and work, speaking out about his experiences with Hamas.

During his time in prison, Yousef started studying the Bible, and he converted to Christianity in 1999. He then fled to the U.S. in 2007, where he experienced some culture shock due to the "false ideologies" that have flooded Western nations, such as "new age theories" that he finds can be "as dangerous as extreme or terrorist ideologies."

"I am not shocked anymore by human delusion," Yousef said. "You can say whether if it’s in the West or in the East, it’s the human condition, and time will prove every theory to be actually based according to the universal design, evolution – even though evolution is a very sensitive term – or narratives with dead ends."

"I appreciate the freedom of speech, even though I have been canceled many times by liberals and mainstream media, which is basically – I don’t want to say it’s shocking, but it’s fascinating to see people who swear by the name of liberty and democracy, but in practice, they are the opposite," he added.

"For me, this is my journey, and it doesn’t matter what people perceive on the outside," he stressed. "What matters to me is what I’m learning, what I am seeing as I evolve and integrate."

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Blinken, on ninth Mideast trip since Gaza war began, seeks cease-fire momentum as talks to resume

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will use his ninth diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to press for the quick conclusion of an elusive cease-fire agreement.

Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday before what mediators have billed as a last push to reach a deal that will take place in Cairo later this week. He will meet with top Israeli officials on Monday before traveling to Egypt on Tuesday.

Late last week, the three countries mediating the proposed cease-fire reported progress on a deal under which Israel would halt most military operations in Gaza and release a number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

A senior official traveling with Blinken said his arrival in the region comes at a “critical time” in the cease-fire talks and the secretary would will press all parties on the importance of concluding it quickly to end civilian suffering in Gaza and prevent the conflict from engulfing the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Blinken’s travels.

Shortly before Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting there are areas where Israel can be flexible and unspecified areas where it won’t be. “We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” he said.

In addition to Netanyahu, Blinken will meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog on Monday.

On Friday, the U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signaled resistance to what it called new demands by Israel.

The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.

Officials said the U.S. has presented proposals to bridge all the gaps remaining between the Israeli and Hamas positions. Formal responses to the U.S. outline are expected this week and could lead to a cease-fire declaration unless the talks collapse, as has happened with multiple previous efforts to end the 10-month-old war.

U.S. President Joe Biden has seemed optimistic that a deal could be at hand, saying Friday “we are closer than we’ve ever been.”

Asked Sunday about a cease-fire, Biden told reporters: “We’re still underway. We’re not giving up. Still possible.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigning in Pennsylvania, was asked if Netanyahu is ready to strike a cease-fire deal.

“I will not speak for him, but I will tell you that these conversations are ongoing and we are not giving up, and we are going to continue to work very hard on this," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "We’ve got to get a cease-fire and we got to get those hostages out.”

The renewed push to conclude a cease-fire comes as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has climbed past 40,000 since the war began, according to the Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Israel went in to Gaza after the Hamas surprise attacks inside Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Since then, fears for a rapid and dangerous escalation to other parts of the region have ebbed and flowed. Those fears are once again elevated as Iran and its proxies threaten retaliation for the killings in Lebanon of senior Hezbollah commanders and in Iran of the head of Hamas’ political wing.

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