Will Israel get back all her hostages? We will know within 48 hours

In a justified move, filled with frustration and disbelief, Israel has come to the decision that there will be no more ceasefire negotiations until a full accounting is provided on the status of the hostages who remain in Gaza - this, amidst a call from many global leaders, including President Joe Biden, who wants to see a “pause” in the fighting.

Yet, despite that strong desire to put an end to the already five-month-long standoff, no one has been successful in carving out an acceptable deal in order to bring home the remaining 134 captives, some of whom are believed to be in the presence of Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar who is holed-up in one of the many labyrinths of Gaza tunnels, safeguarding his own life by these hostages being used as his personal human shields. 

The last time Hamas agreed to release some hostages, the deal was predicated on untenable demands, some of which included a complete ceasefire and total withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza, facilitating full freedom of movement for its citizens. Other demands required full responsibility by Israel to rebuild Gaza and the provision of endless services and goods well into the future. Their unrealistic terms were met with a realistic rejection.

Now, a new effort has been launched, wherein a Hamas proposal is expected to emerge within the next 48 hours, based on a new set of demands, but will they be just as impossible to consider? It is clear that the two things that are most pressing to the terrorist regime are to somehow rid Gaza of the IDF to salvage what tunnels and Hamas leadership remain intact, but which, if preserved, would, at some point, come back to haunt Israel.

The second priority would be to rebuild the ruins of the carnage they brought upon themselves, but for which they absurdly hold Israel fully responsible. Yet, given those two massive demands, Israel is not even being provided with a guarantee of receiving all of the 134 hostages in what they hope to be a six-week pause to the ongoing war, this time around. How then do they think that such a deal will fly?

For one thing, they know just how much the pressure on hostage families has been ramped up. Only last night, a four-day march, culminated in “around 20,000 marchers arriving in Jerusalem” demanding that it is time to end the suffering of the hostages.” This was in addition to Tel Aviv protesters attempting to disrupt traffic on the main Tel Aviv highway (the Ayalon), a move previously done, forcing police to disperse the crowds using water cannons. The efforts are unrelenting to bring home these hostages, and that’s not likely to taper off but rather to intensify all the more.

In this new proposal, we can speculate that a demand will be made for the IDF to agree that an incursion into Rafah will be off the table because that is where the real rat’s nest is housed. It’s more than likely that most, if not all of the hostages are in that area. It also remains the place from where rockets are still being launched into Israel, and the venue for the remaining Hamas leaders and their accomplices. Undoubtedly, there is no shortage of tunnels and weapons, including rocket depots and command systems for launches, in strategic locations where they do not want to be discovered as well.

Of course, the problem with such a concession by Israel is that Hamas gains the upper hand in a brutal war they started which is then fought on their terms, as a result of the precious assets they hold in their hand – 134 lives which have meaning and value to us, unlike the thousands of their own people to whose death they are callously indifferent, preferring to see even larger numbers of casualties in order to garner needed sympathy from a world that still hasn’t figured out that the gift of life is meaningless to them.

At the moment, though, no one even knows the condition or disposition of any of those 134. Are most alive, on the verge of death, suffering abuse and being violated in horrific ways? Are those with chronic illnesses receiving medications or are they being left to languish in agony and pain? Are they being fed even two meals a day, some reports have said they are subsisting on one-quarter of pita per day. Freed hostages have already disclosed that these hostages are suffering intense hunger, beatings and sexual assault. 

These harrowing accounts from former captives are really all we know about what the remaining hostages are facing. We also know that unopened medications, with the names of specific hostages, were found by IDF soldiers - meaning that they had never been distributed to those who needed them. 

In short, no information is being provided either by Hamas or the International Red Cross, which has not been permitted to visit those being forcibly held against their will. So given the uncertainty of the condition of these hostages, it’s entirely possible that an agreed-upon deal would result in the return of many dead bodies as well as those in serious medical condition. It’s anyone’s guess.

However, given the tremendous value of even those dead bodies, it’s almost certain that Hamas will not return 100% of the hostages, knowing that they remain their strongest bargaining chip in getting their terms met. And this is why they are able to get away with demanding the most absurd and ludicrous conditions - because of our God-given credo, which greatly esteems the invaluable worth of life and the dignity of humanity – ethics that are totally lost on barbaric savages who are devoid of all feeling, reason and morality, reducing them to less than animals, many of whom also possess those basic instincts. 

We are sure to hear something within the next 48 hours because the Israeli military machine will not wait forever to strike at their target, but no one should put too much hope in a set of reasonable demands being put forward, because terrorists who lack a conscience will not be able to avoid the temptation of pushing the envelope just a bit too far, since they have no boundaries.

We can only continue to pray for an end to this horrible nightmare that Israel has been living out over the past five months and a good, strategic plan for such a tragedy NEVER AGAIN to be repeated, because there is no doubt that we won’t take our security for granted as we did prior to October 7, when we greatly underestimated the capabilities of our brutal enemy!