The first thing to do is shoot the hostages, if their captors believe that Israeli soldiers are coming to save them. According to what the New York Times writes citing Israeli officials, this would be the order that Hamas gave to its militiamen dealing with the hostages kidnapped in the attack on October 7, 2023.
So on Saturday, if hostages died in the raid that saved four of them, it would be the work of Hamas and not because of the Israeli raid, the newspaper continues. At the moment, however, there is no confirmation either from Israel or from the United States that some of the abductees lost their lives on Saturday.
The only confirmation that comes from the blitz seems to be that the hostages are being held in houses and not in tunnels built by Hamas, as was thought at the beginning of the war. Over the months, however, the hostages were moved several times to make location difficult, because another war is taking place on the kidnapped, with Israel determined to bring them home and Hamas to use them as a bargaining chip, writes the newspaper. And now Hamas could decide to change tactics by moving the remaining hostages into the tunnels.
To date, Israel has rescued seven hostages, but the reality is that since the war began more hostages have died, both in fighting and at the hands of Hamas.
American and Israeli officials believe that the rescue operations are an exception and that only through diplomatic means can most of the remaining hostages be brought home. American emissaries in particular are pressuring Israel and Hamas to agree to a deal which would include the return of hostages as part of a truce.
“You have to remember that the release of the four hostages is a tactical achievement that does not change the strategic aspect,” Avi Kalo, a lieutenant colonel who once headed a military intelligence department that dealt with prisoners of war and missing people. ”Hamas still has dozens of hostages, the vast majority of whom, if not all, will not be released during the operations, but can only be rescued as part of a ceasefire agreement,” he underlined.
