For Hamas, hostages are a powerful means of pressure
Dozens of Israeli hostages were captured by Hamas commandos in the south of the country during the October 7 attack and brought back to Gaza, according to the army. On Sunday afternoon, the government press office announced the number of more than 100 hostages – without specifying whether it included those held in Israeli towns and villages during those two days and then released. Where are they? Despite their inaccuracy, these figures are staggering, as is the 600 Israeli death toll, which exceeds all Israeli Palestinian deaths since the end of the second intifada and the disengagement from Gaza in 2005. In a small country of 9 million inhabitants, this means that a large part of the population knows one of the victims directly or indirectly.
Families crowd near Tel Aviv airport, where police and army have set up a reception center for the families of the missing – dead, injured, kidnapped, on the run. Some recognized their loved ones in videos broadcast by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, like that of this frightened boy being mocked by other Palestinian boys for crying; or the image showing the seemingly lifeless body of a naked, tattooed young woman. There is also this elderly woman, Yafa Adar, 85, who was driven into the enclave on the back of an electric cart, perhaps senile, clearly unaware of the danger, who on Saturday smiled at the crowd cheering her capture; and these five men were filmed, tied up on the floor in a dark room – perhaps soldiers. Hamas claims to have them and officers too. He promised to announce her number on Sunday.
These prisoners are a huge lever for the Islamist movement. On Saturday, a senior executive, Saleh Al-Arouri, confirmed that the organization now has the means to release all Palestinian activists imprisoned in Israel through an exchange. In 2011, a previous government of Benjamin Netanyahu released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single hostage, soldier Gilat Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in a raid of unprecedented proportions and held for more than five years. Yahya Sinouar, the current leader of Hamas in Gaza, owes him his freedom.
An Israeli woman was kidnapped in Khan Younes, southern Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. – / AFP
The organization has held two living civilian hostages for nine years and the bodies of two soldiers declared dead by the army for almost ten years. Their release was the subject of stubborn negotiations, particularly in Egypt, without success. Aware of the value of these captures, the Palestinian movement set up a special group responsible for monitoring the prisoners. This is the “shadow unit” founded in 2006, whose existence was revealed in 2016. It became particularly known through the broadcast of a video by the soldier Shalit, which, among other things, showed the hostage grilling on a beach in Gaza. or watch TV.
For the Israeli government, the presence of these prisoners in Gaza makes the next military phase in the enclave extremely difficult. Their fate is uncertain while the army has already struck 800 targets in the enclave on Saturday, drawing up a pre-drawn list kept updated by intelligence – tunnels, military installations, offices of Hamas and its ally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. , residence of their military and political leaders… According to Gaza health authorities, these attacks left at least 370 dead and nearly 2,000 injured. “We have to be cruel now and not think too much about the hostages [à Gaza]. It is time to act,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly said during the Cabinet meeting yesterday, according to the Israeli press. His office has not denied this.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly addressed their fate in his address to the nation on Saturday evening: “I say to Hamas: You are responsible for its well-being.” Israel will attack anyone who hurts even a hair of their head. » For Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser to Mr. Netanyahu (2011-2013), Israel must demand the release of the hostages without negotiations as a prerequisite for a ceasefire, “even if it means relentless bombing for a year,” specifies this “hawk “, associated with the religious right. For his successor Eyal Hulata, however, the urgency is to free these hostages, which, in his opinion, would in part give rise to a land operation in the enclave, which he recommends: “We have people there, alive, we have to bring them back.” , act quickly and decisively.”
Also read: Hamas attack on Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister at war against his will
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Log in Louis Imbert (Jerusalem, correspondent)