Public sentiment is overwhelmingly negative, reflecting deep frustration and outrage regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in light of the ongoing conflict. Many commenters criticize the disproportionate attention given to the plight of hostages compared to the suffering of Palestinians, highlighting human rights abuses and perceived bias in media portrayals. There are strong calls for compassion, justice, and immediate humanitarian action for all affected parties, indicating a divided yet passionate public discourse.

Israeli Government

Hamas

Media

“As someone who has long believed in Israel’s right to exist and supported a two-state solution, I want to make clear—to anyone who cares to listen—our band’s condemnation of Netanyahu’s immoral actions and to join all who have called for a cessation of hostilities on both sides,” Bono writes. 

Onstage at Sphere Las Vegas on October 7–8, while mourning Hamas’s attack on Israel, including the Nova music festival, the lead singer of u/u2 writes that he wasn’t thinking about politics. “I just couldn’t help but express the pain everyone in the room was feeling and is still feeling for other music lovers and fans like us—hiding under a stage in Kibbutz Re’im then butchered to set a diabolical trap for Israel and to get a war going that might just redraw the map ‘from the river to the sea,’” Bono writes.

Over the months that followed, Israel’s revenge for the Hamas attack “appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent civilian lives in Gaza,” Bono writes. “I hoped Israel would return to reason. I was making excuses for a people seared and shaped by the experience of Holocaust, who understood the threat of extermination not simply as a fear but as a fact.” 

“But I also understood that Hamas is not the Palestinian people,” Bono continues. “Palestinians have for decades endured and continue to endure marginalization, oppression, occupation, and the systematic stealing of the land that is rightfully theirs. Given our own historic experience of oppression and occupation in Ireland, it’s little wonder so many here have campaigned for decades for justice for the Palestinian people.”  


Images of starving children in Gaza brought Bono back to a 1985 working trip to a food station in Ethiopia—where, he writes, he witnessed chronic malnutrition up close. “We know Hamas is using starvation as a weapon in the war, but now so too is Israel, and I feel revulsion for that moral failure,” Bono continues at the link in our bio. “The government of Israel is not the nation of Israel, but the government of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, deserves our categorical and unequivocal condemnation.”

Read more: [https://theatln.tc/fP2lMXKt](https://theatln.tc/fP2lMXKt) 

— Katie Anthony, associate editor, audience and engagement, *The Atlantic*

theatlantic

There HAD been a ceasefire on October 6th of 2023.  
I wonder who broke it.  
While I don't hold Palestineans wholly responsible for Hamas' actions, the fact is that Hamas IS supported by the majority of Palestineans. Most Palestineans do NOT support a two state solution, most Palestineans don't support Jews existing in our homeland to begin with and every time some peaceful settlement is reached, its not the Israelis who reignite tensions.

Cultural-Flow7185

Not Israel and Gaza. Gaza. Israel has built a first world nation because they want to live. The Palestinians agendas were different.

user6161616

Really they're not wrong.

I know reasonable people who were born in Israel.  I know reasonable people who were born in Palestine.  What they have in common is they looked at the situation and decided to get out by any means necessary.

When all of the non-fundamentalists with any options on both side of a conflict realize they can make a better life for themselves and their children somewhere else, what's left?

Hartastic

West Bank is all anyone needs to see to show that Israel was never interested in any real peace, they even funded Hamas to make it easier to disunite the Palestinians. Whether you are moderate or radical Israel's goal was always to ethnically cleanse the area.

Trefeb

The real problem is the politics of victimhood that both Palestinians and Israelis shamelessly espouse! Both sides paint the other side as the perpetrator of terrible injustice and fanatical hatred, when they should be working to let go of decades-old grievances.

Shoddy-Cherry-490

the terror is the point of Hamas attacking. Their objective is to make their own people suffer and their people support this. Not a single Gazan has helped return a hostage. Not one. They want the world to pity them as they start war after war, commit atrocity after atrocity, take hostages, parade around their dead kids proudly. The world falls for it.

PracticalDisaster794

I think you all miss one crucial point correct if im wrong I heard that king leopold of Belgium had over 25 million Congolese killed during Belgium occupation how true that is i really don't know but looking and DRC now that country haven't had any peace for hundreds of years
Now let's look at what wr do know is true 6 million Jews killed in ww2 surely these people deserve some mercy 
I really dont know what crime they have committed why certain groups of people hate them can anyone explain why they are so hated by certain groups

Visible-District-852

Why??? Does anybody know why this is still going on?

Weary-Story8675

I hope they're f\*cking happy with the shit storm they started.

Stormboy27

I think the OP poses a good question. I find myself wishing Hamas and PIJ would just release the remaining hostages, alive and dead, simply to show some mercy and to pull a global rug out from under Israel. We know returning them won’t make the slightest difference to Israel’s government and many of its people. That’s been made clear. But in the court of global public opinion, such a unilateral move from Hamas and PIJ might hold some weight.

JulesDeSask

How quickly these inbreds shift the focus from 7th October 2023 to playing victims calling this a genocide. 

In any case, why aren’t the hamas fighters dying of starvation?

TuiVT

As long as the conflict continues Hamas gains more " freedom Fighters" from the Palestinian population, and also more aid from the world. Playing the victim card has worked in their favour The most lies they spread the more support they gain in the western world.

Zealousideal_Bell444

The question was legitimate. Can we not have serious, considered  opinions please?

Main-Reference9137

If their wacky religion didn't exist, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

bfishin2day

One option might be to give Florida to all the beautiful Palestinian people - lock, stock and barrel. They can then enjoy a secure life with modern amenities again. Criminal Humpty Trump and criminal  Nutenyahoo can have rubbled gaza and live together there holding hands in a tent! Israel will be remembered very badly in history for this, as will the bastards from Hamas. No compassion. The hypocrisy of religious kindness is yet again exampled in this war. Israel pushed and pushed and pushed and there was a reaction. Terrible and evil, but not completely surprising. Israel kept stealing West Bank land for their moshavs etc. Palestinians and Jews have a right to existing. Gaza has been blown up. Too many civilians murdered. And it is murder. Hamas ARE throughout their population unfortunately. They cant be cut out. Its awful and they are an evil group. But what now? 60 thousand dead - mostly civilians. Think of , their hatred of Israel. It can never end. Even a sane and  compassionate world leader will not unravel it from here. I hate Hamas and I equally hate Israels governing party to be clear. One life lost is one too many. This is an insane situation. What would the aliens think of us? Nut and Humpty are evil, evil men. Free Florida now!

Fun_Horror2281

Didn't Israel already kill their hostages? 

Imknott28

Victims don’t hold hostages. The hypocrisy of the anti-Israel supporters will never cease to stun. 

Arabs value their honor above life. If you an insult an Arab, or win every war they ever wage against you, it is as if they have been murdered. 

Jihadists are fueled by hate and run on pride. The populations are kept poor on purpose as poor people are easier to radicalize. The PA and Iran pay terrorist families for life. For people who have no genuine economic choices - becoming a martyr guarantees money for their families. 

Hamas has nothing to gain and are happy to die, in theory. The ones who avoid martyrdom do not live in Gaza and/or hide in tunnels safe from the war they started. Note that Arab Palestinians were not allowed to use the tunnels to shelter safely. The more civilians martyred, the better the PR for Hamas - as stated by Sinwar.

[deleted]

It's been done b4, if there was real peace that was in reach, those Jaredim would be dragged out most west bank so fast it's not even funny.

They are instigators , uneducated extremists and most Israelis dislike their lazy asses.   They refuse to fight even. (Cause they gotta pray, soooo uneducated)

So like Gaza, they dragged out the settlers they'd do it in the west bank, thing is, AFTWR HAMAS, NO ISRAELI PM WILL ALLOW ANOTHER PALESTINIAN STATE THAT WILL USE 100% FUNDS TO ARM UP TO ATTACK ISRAEL...., AGAIN.

All I know is that when this is over, America is going to act like they agreed with Palestine all along. I think both Hamas and the Israeli government are odious, self-serving organizations, who allow their own constituents to be killed to further their own agenda. I am black and grew up solely around Jewish folk, and I have always related to them and deeply believe in the right to a Jewish state to prevent another Holocaust. The Jewish population is a smaller number than most C list celebrities have instagram followers, and it would not be difficult to condemn the Jews again as they have repeatedly been throughout history. However, I think a reasonable amount of the Israeli government knew about the October 7th attacks and delayed their response in order to have justification for bombing Gaza off the face of the earth. It’s called a “False flag ideology” and it is similar to the US likely having intel about Pearl Harbor but letting it happen to have justification to invade Japan. Hamas is not a “revolutionary organization” as many deluded revolutionist leftists would believe. Islamic militant orgs have a long history of martyring their own people to gain advocacy for their cause. They don’t see the loss of life among their own people as a loss, and therefore have to be eradicated, whether or not it ends Israeli occupation. BUT Netanyahu does not want the hostages back, as EVIDENCED by his failure to follow through with the ceasefire. International politics are essentially game theory, and any politician knows you can’t make demands unless you have an incentive. Hamas has no reason to return the hostages because they aren’t given anything in return, and Netanyahu KNOWS THAT. Netanyahu has said himself that the war will continue even if/when they are returned. Hamas has been reduced significantly, and they would be likely to return the hostages in exchange for some other leverage,  as the rest of the west has already condemned Israel (verbally mostly) and will never give them the same support. When the war dies down more, it will likely be the case that Israel is still occupying, the world will blame the Jews and likely increase antisemitism as has happened every few hundred years in history, whether or not they cared about Palestine in order to avoid responsibility for their idleness. Everyone will lose. Hamas will regroup, and come back 10 years later with a different name, and nothing will change regarding the disparity between the perceived worth of Israeli prisoners and Palestinian Prisoners. Everyone who can’t see that we’re all being played, is a fool. BOTH sides are using sexual violence and violence against children as a weapon of war. Whether it’s Israel arresting Palestinian children and holding them without a trial and using sexual degradation to torture perceived terrorists, or Hamas r4ping countless women in October 2023 and holding hostages. They’re both despicable. In a few years, Netanyahu will probably be indicted by the ICC for war crimes/crimes against humanity, and all of the west will condemn Israel. Hamas’s ideology of wanting the west to hate Israel despite destruction of their own people will come true. But both sides will lose. This was always bound to happen, Hamas and Netanyahu destroyed any chance of relative peace when they declined the two state deal. Israel has a right to a Jewish state in order to protect from future holocausts, but it is undeniably occupation and stolen land, and if you believe otherwise, you’ve been brainwashed. I would say it breaks my heart to watch it, but I’m not the one who’s truly suffering, it’s those who are being reduced to cannon fodder in order for their “leaders” to push their agenda.

Special_Pineapple_71

Organizations Like Hamas are only concerned about themselves. Such Organization create problems for their own people. See ultimately they are ike a political party. Their own survival is their first priority. They will never agree for solution which will cost them their own existence. 

Odd_Conversation5828

15,500. 

The # of VERIFIED children killed since 2023 by Israeli bombing. Not including mother's, elderly and adult civilians. 
Just children. 
15,500.
Hamas by all reasoning has been eradicated. Their leaders, bankers, foot soldiers, majority now worm food. 
Those in semblance of authority who believe "holding Israeli hostages for better terms" is a wise strategy should be shot by their own men who should see to the release of ALL Israeli prisoners. 
The West Bank is rubble.
There is NOTHING to negotiate. 

Despite( HOLLOW) WORLD CONDEMNATION Israel continues to act with carte blanche turning RUBBLE  into ROCKS and BONE into POWDER targeting civilian neighborhoods.
YES!
No other way to explain 15,500 DEAD Children.
INNOCENT of those horrid actions committed by those  Hamas bastards! 
A # so high war crime tribunals would be established if it were anywhere else. 
Now food/aid is blocked.

Hamas WAS responsible but ..
THIS. IS. MADNESS. 
Let the Israelis go. 
Then pick up a shovel. 
It's over. 

Enough.

1badjesus

They care only for them.
They want fight. 
Infact they started it. 
World over many organization like Hamas had done more damage to their communities than any good. Example LTTE and list can have many name

They have agreed to release the hostages.

In fact in the ceasefire, if Israel negotiated into Stage Two as planned they'd've gotten all the hostages.

Now Zionist supporters shall move the goalpost and say the goal is to disarm Hamas

ExtremeAcceptable289

So i was pretty close then.   Good to know all the people who called me full of shit were wrong

Palestinians are going to die in the next 48 hours and that isn’t okay

IllustriousAir9455

You are looking at it logically. Hamas aren't. They are a death cult whose sole purpose is ideological - the destruction of Israel. They literally don't care how many Gazans are killed, because they see them as 'martyrs' - a price worth paying.

As long as Israel looks bad for doing it, the price is worth it.

It's a fact that Hamas could have ended this war shortly after it begun by releasing the hostages, as Israel would have no moral reason or international support for doing what they've done. They chose not to. Nobody is saying Israel are saints in this, they've acted abhorrently for many years, but it's always two-sided; see the Oslo Peace Accords and how the likes of Netanyahu AND the Palestinians curb stomped any hope of that succeeding.

So the part you're missing is that you think Hamas are losing as people are dying. In their eyes, they're not. If people want the war to end, supporting a terrorist organisation isn't wise - everyone doing it has blood on their hands in my view, as they're supporting a death cult. The key is getting rid of them and then making tangible progress on a two-state solution, instead of a perpetual ideological war.

Tubey84

Few-Remove-9877

This war has been ongoing since the ethic cleansing in 1948..
That's way before Israel funded the start of Hamas. 

More recently... Israel killed more than 5000 people prior to the taking of prisoners...
Do you think anything would change of the prisoners are returned?
The point was never getting people back

PrinceAlbertXX

The longer this goes on the worse Israel is coming out. Hamas doesn't care what happens in Gaza so long as Israel is shunned from the western world and this is what's happening, both because Hamas is not coming forward and releasing the hostages, and because Israel insists on... something. Israel keeps insisting on continuing the war until Hamas releases the hostages, all the while insisting on going back to war after the hostages have been released. Hamas has no reason to agree on going back to war after a hostage deal and instead wants a full release of the hostages for a permanent (or at least a very long term) cease fire. This back and forth can go on forever just like how the conflict and blame wars have been going on forever.

The main difference is that now Israel is standing on the world stage and is being judged by everyone all the time, which is obviously bad for Israel.

Now with countries publicly denouncing Israel's actions (whether these alleged actions are truly happening or not), certain deals are at risk of falling off, and countries threatening with embargoes on Israel, why should Hamas act in any other way? Israel is the worst it's ever been since years and public sentiment for the Palestinians is at an all-time high.

Sgigi

This was Hamas plan all along. Gazans were always going to suffer.

tobyp27

This is not a war. Long live the resistance 🇵🇸

enabed

Hamas is hoping to isolate Israel. Pre October 7 Israel was in a far better position to negotiate trade and partnerships with some of the Arab countries. This strengthens Israels ability to survive. By continuing the war and making the humanitarian situation as horrible as possible, Hamas is (quite successfully) driving wedges between Israel and its allies and squandering new possible economic alliances. This places Israel on the back foot. Fortress Israel can not survive forever. If Hamas (well, Iran, Islam, via Hamas) manage to choke Israel for the next 40 years then Israel will eventually fall and the Jews will be done. Which is what Hamas/Iran/radical Islam wants.

Remarkable_Golf_9741

The brave resistance will always rise above. Stop defending what’s indefensible.

https://preview.redd.it/eu4xprqqcy1f1.jpeg?width=675&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=e2d9599e0ff300f6ca1d3070383d3fc5ecbb9e92

Award_Prestigious

They gave America their hostage back, Israel doesn’t want their hostages back because they need an excuse to slaughter 100+ people per day. Can’t keep slaughtering babies when all the hostages are returned, can’t justify genocide/ethnic cleansing/blocking aid and causing starvation when the hostages are back. It was never about the hostages and still isn’t, they could have made a deal to get the hostages back before they started slaughtering civilians by the thousands. Let’s be real, if they cared about hostages they could have prevented hostages from being taken in the first place. They purposely allowed October 7th to happen so they can justify their main goal which everyone knows and is not a secret, the greater Israel project. Ethnically cleanse the land (not just Gaza but the West Bank where Hamas doesn’t exist) and expand Israeli territory. That was the goal from the start, plus they get a bunch of money from USA and all the other cucked/blackmailed governments, and USA gets to profit from weapons manufacturing.

JmoneyHimself

The war is not about the hostages. It's about preventing Oct 7 from happening again.

Savings-Diver-8348

Yes, this war in Gaza starting 10/08 is about returning the hostages.  It never would have happened if not for the terror attack.  Big picture: it’s pushed Israel farther to the right, so the only thing it accomplished was the achievement of Hamas’ ideological goal to spread Islam to the world by forcing population transfer to the suicidally sympathetic west.  It was win for them, Sinwar’s swimming with his virgins.

whatnowyesshazam

It was always more about taking out Hamas than the hostages. In fact, the war itself put the hostages in more danger, as Hamas would likely have negotiated for their release in exchange for no war at the beginning.

With Israel's success in taking out the rest of Iran's proxy armies surrounding them, Israel is going to ensure that Hamas does not come back into power. The push for international agencies and Arab governments to get involved will begin soon.

Taxibl

It’s also about destroying Hamas so they can’t k!ll our families…

un-silent-jew

There are two priorities:

1. Destroy Hamas
2. Get back the hostages.

Destroying Hamas is more important than getting back the hostages because if you don't destroy Hamas, they will murder more people and take more hostages in the future.

Routine-Equipment572

The primary imedeate objective in this war has always been the destruction of Hamas as a political and military entity.

The primary long-term objective in this war is to establish sufficient security measures and structural environmental changes to plausibly prevent any likelihood of another attack, like October 7th, occurring again. 

The secondary objective is the return of all hostages dead or alive. Preferably alive, of course.

Israel has maintained a standing offer to end their war with Hamas without delay should they agree to return all hostages and dismantle their regime. Hamas has refused that offer and continues to do so.

Israel's effort to achieve those objectives have been obstructed by outside political interference, sanctions, and arms embargos along with the need to defend themselves from attacks from Hezbollah, the Ayatollahs regime, and the Houthis as well as securing there northern boarder from the Civil war and regime change in Syria. 

Due to having significantly neutralized these other threats and having support assurances from the Trump administration, Israel is now in a position to more effectively achieve their primary objectives.

As with any country attempting to secure the return of hostages it is essential that the hostage takers are not rewarded for their crime and therefore are not encouraged to repeat it in the future. The previous ceasefire was a skillfully negotiated agreement that maximized the return of as many hostages as possible while giving minimal military advantage to Hamas. Once the hostage return was restricted, the obvious decision was made to recommence military engagement to achieve all the objectives of the war.  

The new strategy includes the establishment of a huge humanitarian zone in Rafah directly supplied without aid or civilians needing to interact with combat zones. This strategy will effectively segregate civilians from Hamas militants, removing Hamas' influence over them and the ability to extort them. Both of which will severely weaken Hamas while also impacting the sanctuary  required for Hamas gurila warfare tactics to be effective. Civilians will benefit from safety, sanctuary, and efficient supply of food and medical attention without risk of further theft and extortion by Hamas. 

Israeli forces will be able to concentrate better on the systematic clearing of Hamas Street by street, forcing Hamas to move hostages and potentially yield more opportunities to rescue hostages although this is always going to be at great risk. It is already the belief of Mossad that at least half of the hostages are already dead. Given Hamas already delayed the return of hostages and eventually returned the bodies of dead hostages when they had agreed to return living hostages. Those bodies being.

Shiri Bibas (32),
whose corps was initially not returned and instead the body of a diseased Palestinian, was presented as being her. Forensic analysis of Shiri Bibas's body found no evidence that she was killed by an air strike as claimed by Hamas.

Ariel Bibas (4) 
Kfir Bibas (9 months),
Both found by forensic analysis to have been killed by their captors with bare hands and not by air strikes as claimed by Hamas.

Oded Lifshitz (83) forensic analysis showed that he was not killed by an air strike in the months before his body was returned and had been killed in captivity a year before his body was released.

It is highly likely that very few Hostages are still alive today 
Publicly, it is stated that 58 hostages in total remain captive, of which 23 might still be alive. This number is likely optimistic due to the sensitivity towards the families of those victims.

Evans Alexander was released in a side deal with the US being the last living American hostage.

The bodies of 4 americans Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Omer Neutra have not been repatriated.

There is believed to be one Thai national alive in captivity and one Nepali national alive in captivity.

Many of those hostages that are no longer alive are not believed to be in Hamas possession.

Sherwoodlg

&gt;But nothing was done to retrieve them.

Israel has been warring with Hamas for almost 600 days attempting to retrieve the hostages. Finding 20 people out of 2,000,000 is not 2 day mission. Hamas has been using tunnels and human shields to hide the innocent hostages. 

The Israeli government made it clear from the start, the goals of this war are to return the hostages and dismantle Hamas. 

Why can't both be true? 

Israel still maintains the position that a ceasefire can be immediately achieved if the hostages are returned and Hamas relinquishes authority. 

Hamas wants none of that. They don't want to return hostages. They don't want to relinquish control. They don't want a ceasefire. Hamas' most effective weapon against Israel is dead palestinians. They will fight this Jihad to destroy Israel until every last Palestinian is Martyred. 

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdmtfRj6KX0&amp;pp=ygUIbWVtcmkgdHY%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdmtfRj6KX0&amp;pp=ygUIbWVtcmkgdHY%3D)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh9ySTbYlnA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh9ySTbYlnA)

[https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/01/hamas-officials-admit-its-strategy-is-to-use-palestinian-civilians-as-human-shields/](https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/01/hamas-officials-admit-its-strategy-is-to-use-palestinian-civilians-as-human-shields/)

thedudeLA

Hamas can easily prove that this is "not about the hostages". Just release them all! Done. Easy peasy.

Sensitive-Note4152

Why is it so hard to comprehend to you?

The great whole comes first - security of Israel. That means Hamas must be destroyed and Gaza controlled.

The hostages are in priority behind this.

It does NOT mean Israel does not want hostages back. They very much want to get them, there is no contradiction.

SpeedySnail990

It’s absolutely about them but not JUST them, Israel is a country and as such its priority is the safety of ALL OF ITS CITIZENS, so eliminating Hamas is also an objective, how hard is it to imagine there is more than one goal for a war?

OmryR

Agitated-Ticket-6560

Returning the hostages is important to Israel. Preventing another October 7th is more important to Israel. This was always the calculation.

MissingNo_000_

if it's not about the hostages then just release then, very simple...

Other-Carrot-958

Having hostages still being held by Hamas helps the colonisers justify expanding their colony. 

Antisemitism helps Zionists justify their actions. 

Simple as that!

HugoSuperDog

Not as the foremost priority, no.

The remaining 23 living hostages (and to a lesser extent the corpses of the 35 killed) getting home are important- but are far outweighed by the importance of ensuring there are not 200 more hostages in another 5-10 years. Returning hostages home cannot be at the expense of safety for Israelis going forward.

WeAreAllFallible

Here is reason returning hostages is not top or only reason.  Hamas says we return all hostages but Israelis give up all their weapons and give them to Hamas.  If returning hostages was top or only goal then Israel would have to do it. This example shows that returning hostages cant be top or only goal.

Ok_Maximum_5205

khangaldy

It isn't ONLY about the hostages. It is about getting the hostages back but even above that, it is about disarming and completely destroying Hamas so nothing like October 7th ever happens again. Hamas has publicly announced that they plan on doing October 7th attacks again and again, so they must be wiped off the face of the Earth.

If they ONLY get the hostages back and don't wipe out Hamas, in a few years, Hamas will rebuild and then stage another attack and take MORE hostages and we will be back to square zero.

quicksilver2009

Are the hostages a priority?  Yes.  Are they the top priority? No.  I think the top priority is making sure there are no potential future hostages and making sure Israel doesn’t get attacked.

There are many goals (including, in my mind, avoiding civilian deaths and destroying Hamas’s weapons cache).  The problem is that there is no action that helps one goal without harming another goal.  So goals must be prioritized.  And calculations must be made as to how much you can hurt/give up on a goal to accomplish another goal.

Example: let’s say Israel has information that there are 3 living hostages in a building that is also used (and only used) by Hamas and currently gas 20 of the top 25 Hamas leaders.  Should Israel hit it?  Emotionally, I would say no.  Logically, I would say yes.  Is it an easy answer?  No.

NoTopic4906

They are mentioned in every single email I've gotten from my synagogue, and every holiday we celebrate has a moment of silence for the people who can't celebrate because they are in captivity or dead 

Adiv_Kedar2

The issue of hostages, particularly after the Gilad Schalit exchange, is a complex and painful one for Israel. You  might remember that back in 2011, Israel traded over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Schalit, a move that many, including pro-Israel advocates, believed was necessary to bring him home after years of captivity. However, the aftermath of that exchange showed the unintended consequence: even more hostages were taken in subsequent years. The deal, intended to rescue one life, eally showed the difficult reality that Hamas and other militant groups saw it as a successful tactic. Hostage-taking became a strategic tool, and it raised important questions about the long-term effectiveness of negotiating for hostages, especially when it just encourages more kidnappings in the future.

Regarding whether the return of the hostages is still a priority, the answer is more nuanced. While the emotional impact of the hostages' plight is undeniable and remains a deeply felt issue, the Israeli government, like many others, faces the challenge of balancing this priority with the need to have long-term security. The situation becomes even more complicated when it’s clear that there have been missed opportunities for negotiations over the years, and families are understandably incredibly frustrated with the lack of progress. Many in the pro-Israel camp in the US may still outwardly support the return of the hostages, but the reality of the political and military situation likely means that, while it remains an important issue, it may no longer be the overriding priority that some thought it was in the initial stages.

The broader context of security and defense takes precedence over a singular negotiation for hostages. So, for many, the immediate return of hostages may not be as central as it seemed to be to you earlier in the crisis, and the shift in priority reflects the broader, and more complex picture of the ongoing conflict and political realities.

Desperate-Library283

Israel is not a unified actor. 

There is a blend of people who care only about hostages, who care somewhat about hostages and somewhat about preventing future oct 7th, disincentivizing taking hostages in general, so israelis can travel safely, etc.

It is hard to know how successful you will be in war, what the cost will be, how much time you have, etc. 

In the beginning of the war, it was much more about the hostages when there were many of them.

As the war has gone on, as Israel has had massive military victories especially against hezbollah and iran, both pressures have been decreased. It is less about the hostages now, because there are fewer of them. And it is also less about all the other reasons, because the 'pressure' to establish deterrence is lower. 

Now, there is more tension between the netanyahu government which wants to get rid of hamas as a future threat, and the israeli public that thinks getting the hostages back is worth the cost of hamas staying in power, given how hard it would be to replace them and how effective they expect Israel's permanent buffer zone in Gaza to be.

37davidg

It’s about the hostages, and to a greater extent it’s about what happened on 10/7. The hostages never should have been taken, and obviously getting them back is a top priority for most people, except for….

Bibi Netanyahu. He is clinging to power. He has haredi draft bills and a looming budget issue threatening his coalition. The last thing he needs now is to further piss off the extremists in his coalition by ending the war (and thus tacitly agreeing to allow Hamas to take control of Gaza again). Unfortunately, politics is taking precedent over the interests of the people here, which is not uncommon. 

It’s worth noting that preventing Hamas from running the strip isn’t a bad thing. Removing Hamas would benefit the entire region and all of its people - most of all the Gazan population which suffers under their “leadership”. Though it’s time for this war to end and for all the hostages to come home, including the corpses which Hamas is holding.

bkny88

It's about stopping another round of hostage taking, as Hamas promised to repeat October 7 over and over again. They will not be in power in Gaza.

Top_Plant5102

They have two war aims:

1) Get rid of Hamas
2) Get hostages

How is this complicated? Israel could Genocide Gaza in a day if it wanted. Like I always say, feel free to tell your employers about your opinion on “Zionists” and you will see how far off yall are. My boss approached me after oct 7th to say a colleague was going around the office saying crazy pro-Palestine (antisemetic) stuff. He fired him on the spot and blacklisted him from the area. My boss is not Jewish. Good luck to my gen Z people who think this ends well for you. Do yall really think America is going to support Islamic extremism? Even Biden said he was a Zionist.

Hot_Perception8880

If it was only about the hostages, then Israel would have just paid the ransom on day one and that would be the end of it.

Of course it's never solely been about the hostages. The serious critics of Israeli strategy understand this, but argue on what the prioritization should be between the hostages and defeating Hamas. The unserious ones accuse Israel of not simply conceding to the ransom on day one.

It was clear to me from day one that Bibi prioritized defeating Hamas over returning the hostages. And I, as a Canadian Jew with no family or friends in Israel who knows any of the hostages, agree with this approach. In retrospect, the only problem was that he was not forthright regarding this prioritization from day one.

That said, there are arguments for and against Bibi being transparent about this from the start. On the one hand, it's obviously extremely important for Israeli morale to know that the government is primarily focused on returning their loved ones. On the other hand, the more you emote that you are focused on returning hostages, the more valuable they become, the higher the ransom becomes, the more you rubber-stamp hostage taking as a strategy.

magicaldingus

&gt;It’s helpful to hear that even internally this was never a big priority, more a talking point.

It is not the *top* priority, but still a "big" one. 

The hostages are second to the destruction of Hamas. That still puts them above most other considerations.

JustResearchReasons

It was never just about the hostages, but the urgency of the hostage issue has always been proportional to the number and kind of living hostages in captivity.

qksv

Trump just showed the whole world that if Netanyahu wants the POW's hostages freed, he can get them. But he isn't and he won't, because that's not one of his priorities. Every single POW and hostage remaining now wishes more than anything that they had US citizenship like Edan Alexander.

BeatThePinata

The priority now is probably eliminating a terrorist organization to prevent further instances, similar to the presence the U.S. established in Afghanistan for over a decade. It’s because they don’t want to necessarily kill the whole organization if they don’t have to, but they also want to stop fighting. However if they stop and an attack just happens soon after then it is a failure. If presence is established long enough, Hamas and its stragglers and other organizations may stand down out of fear/respect of Israel’s response to terror attacks.

Elysiowo

I think return of the hostages has always been just one of the goals; an important one, but not one to be pursued to the exclusion of defeating Hamas and destroying its ability to attack.

The hostages matter, and getting them back matters, but it doesn't make any sense to get them back but leave Hamas in place with replenished ranks and in a position to just come and take some more whenever they find a weakness in Israel's defenses or whenever they come up with some new unexpected way of attacking like hang-gliding into a music festival.

I would fully expect the families of the hostages to prioritize getting them back over everything else. But the government has to also think bigger and longer-term.

stockywocket

It would be absurd, if it was only about the hostages. The Israelis also do not want any hostages to be taken in future which seems...well, quite reasonable to me.

Reasonable-Notice439

Any pretense left when Trump took office and told Israel to "finish the job." Now the gloves are off, it's open war against Hamas (which it already was, but with the pretense of rescuing the remaining hostages).

This war is now more about preventing there ever being hostages again in the future than it is about rescuing the remaining hostages

Jake0024

I think you’ll find that a lot of pro-Israeli people here are not going to be the average pro-Israel person you’d find in public. The people here spend a ton of time researching the history and context of this conflict, the average person would not. So the average pro-Israel person is more likely to just want a ceasefire and hostage return, the average pro-Israel person here understands that’s not really a solution to the overall problem of the conflict.

Serious-Top7925

Obviously, there are numerous facets and dimensions to the conflict beyond just hostages.  But let's not pretend that Hamas didn't make a calculated strategic decision to build tunnels and capture hostages.

AdAdministrative5330

i'm sure some do, that's just ignorance though. "this" is about a terrorist organization having administrative control of Gaza. "this" will not end in any way but the removal of Hamas from power, and that would have still been the case if every single one of the hostages was instead killed on Oct7 '23

SymphoDeProggy

It is not *not-*about the hostages. The hostages remain an important secondary priority. But it is not, nor was it ever *exclusively*, not even *primarily*, about the hostages. And the Israeli government has made that clear from the start. 

Admittedly, there has been a lot of attention on the hostages , not least due to Israeli voices reiterating the issue time and time again. However, it should be noted that those were primarily the hostages' families and friends, not any representatives of the Israeli state. "Bring them home" is a catchy slogan, but it was never "bring them home at all cost".

hhhhHandsome

It was never just about the hostages. No one ever said it was. What is increasingly clear, however, is that Netanyahu’s coalition doesn’t care about the hostages very much and the war is going on to keep Netanyahu in power, which is why opinion in Israel and amongst “pro-Israel people” outside of the hard right is shifting to skepticism if not opposition to the war.

RNova2010

I think you are confusing a few things.  

Hamas has taken a pretty hard line with Israel.  Which is weird given their military and economic situation.  At this point letting them bleed is pretty good strategy.  That doesn't mean that Israel wouldn't accept a negotiated solution, just not accept one that Hamas is willing to offer.  The two sides are far apart.  

Remember from day 1 the Israeli objective was "destroy Hamas".  The Gazans are still loyal to Hamas, in so far as they function at all.

As far as hostage return there is no question that Israel would all things being equal desire a return of the hostages.  But they could have gotten hostages back more cheaply than this war were that their primary objective.  Israelis rightfully decided that they were going to save what hostages could be saved at reasonable cost.  Reasonable cost here meaning not allowing them to become a means for Hamas to strengthen itself.  That is a huge change from previous Israeli policy which had been to freely pay outrageous ransoms.  This was quite controversial since it was a policy break.  I'm proud of the Israelis for breaking from a very destructive pattern they had established.

As far as being thrilled at Israel's new attitude... 

1. late Oct 2023 when it was likely (not yet clear) that Israel had fired into Hamas fortification despite there being hostages in Green Line Israels

2. early Oct 2023: Were not allowing Hamas to dictate actions despite hundreds of hostages

JeffB1517

"This is (not) about hostages" is (in my view) a meaningless statement. Of course, returning hostages is important, but it's not like returning hostages at any price and pretending that nothing happened was ever a realistic proposal.

No matter how important saving hostages can be to anyone, it's still but one element of the war against terrorism, which will not end with the return (or death) of the hostages.

knign

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So, this is international law. Which means there are general rules as well as exceptions and amendments to said rules. To keep it as simple as possible: 

-there must be an active war, only combatants can be POWs. 

-when there is an active war, certain conditions must be met to ensure the person in question is a combatant and can be taken as a POW (this was not done on October 7)

-a prisoner of war is afforded specific rights (no torturing or otherwise inflicting suffering, must be given access to healthcare, food, adequate shelter, etc.). When the detaining power refuses/is unable to comply, refuses/is unable to correct the abuses against POWs, they must relinquish any prisoners of war. If they refuse to do so, they are no longer holding prisoners of war. They are committing multiple, egregious violations of international law and basic human rights.   

-Hamas has no legal basis to take prisoners of war, as they are not a recognized military of a sovereign nation. Even for those who argue Hamas is “legitimate resistance against occupation”, that would still require Hamas to follow rules of engagement. This includes upholding their responsibilities to POWs. 

To summarize: Hamas are not “legitimate” anything. They’re a terrorist group with no regard to international law or basic human rights. They have no legal right to take POWs in the first place, they had no legal right to take POWs on October 7, they are not fulfilling even the most basic requirements to continue to hold POWs. 

For more information: [Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War](https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-treatment-prisoners-war )

Edit to remove the part that claims the link uses “human language”, it doesn’t really. It’s human enough to show that Hamas basically makes sure to violate every aspect though.

Am-Yisrael-Chai

1. [Only lawful combatants can be POWs.](https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/combatants/) Even active-duty soldiers who were on leave at the time can become POWs if captured. However, non-mobilised reservists cannot become POWs-- non-mobilised reservists are civilians.
2. Hamas, even as a non-state actor, can take POWs. But Hamas (deliberately) failed to treat POWs as POWs-- thus, "POWs" *became* hostages.
3. POWs must be treated properly according to the Geneva Conventions. The Red Cross must be allowed to visit them. POWs have the right to send and receive letters from their families, and their families have the right to send them food, medicine, and gifts. (Full rules linked below.)
4. Acts such as parading POWs, recording hostage videos, using POWs as propaganda, and a whole list of other things are considered [*"outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment".*](https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-treatment-prisoners-war)

I'll give you three examples.

1. Emily Damari (the coolest girl in Israel) was active duty at the time of her kidnapping. She was kidnapped from her home after the monsters shot her dog. *In an ideal world*, she would've been a POW-- because she was at the time *a member of an armed group operating under responsible command.*
2. Edan Alexander was an active duty soldier who took part in the battle on that day. He was taken from a military base. *In an ideal world*, he would've been a POW. Yet, just like Damari, he was not given proper POW treatment.
3. Noa Argamani was a civilian at the time of her kidnapping. She served in the IDF Navy, but she was discharged into the reserves. As a non-mobilised reservist, she was legally a civilian. She cannot be legally categorised as a combatant, thus, she cannot be a POW.

I must point out, although I feel what many of the other commenters feel, lots of their comments contain inaccurate information.

CHLOEC1998

If they are prisoners of war, then Hamas is the aggressor in a war that they started and which is ongoing.  The rulers of Gaza have declared war on Israel.  They cannot claim to be the victims of ethnic cleansing or genocide.  They cannot claim to be a resistance movement instead of an army. 

It becomes much harder for the UN and the ICJ to treat them as special if they are an invading army taking prisoners of war.

Dramatic-Ad-2151

Hamas made the decision, as soon as they took anyone and anything on their way as hostage. 

A partial list of hostages taken by “the resistance”:

85 year old Grandmothers(!) families (young mothers with their toddlers), old men (aged 78), babies, random tourists who were visiting (Italy, France and US), foreign Thai laborers, teenagers at the music festival and IDF soldiers. 

Of course they could restrict the capture to IDF soldiers and limit the attack to army bases. It would have given the attack a totally different meaning. But they were not interested and the plans specified taking any creature they could, including dead bodies! 

When you act like that, there are no “prisoners” of war. There is a random group of unlucky people that happened to be at the wrong place.  Some had nothing to do with Israel and didn’t speak Hebrew. Under such circumstances there are no prisoners.

Oberon_17

It follows directly from [the definition of those terms.](https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule96:) The primary distinction is in the motivation and purpose behind taking someone captive, not their status as combatants.

POWs are combatants taken captive during an armed conflict in order to prevent them from participating in hostilities for the duration of the conflict, and are held in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention.

Hostages are individuals -- either civilians or combatants -- taken captive in order to compel a third party to do something in return for their safety or release. This is also why Palestinians in Israeli prisons are not "hostages".

The former is allowed by international law, the latter is a war crime.

Hamas' sole purpose behind taking anyone captive is the latter, hence by definition their captives are hostages and not POWs.

birdgovorun

They weren’t technically at war during that time, so wouldn’t that also be a difference? Is it about whether they were in uniform at the time, or the age? Eg. I think military is compulsory in Finland. So if a male of that age was randomly kidnapped in Finland, would they be called a POW? No.

jipunti

&gt;
&gt;## "It is time to shut the door to a partial deal for the final time and order the I.D.F. to storm on occupying Gaza."
&gt;_— Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister and a member of Israel’s security cabinet, said on Wednesday regarding the negotiations with Hamas._
&gt;

newswall-org

Key Facts: Setback in Gaza Cease-Fire Talks Amid Hostage Crisis
---
#
- Israel and U.S. negotiators were recalled temporarily, casting doubt on the prospect of a near-term cease-fire and hostage release.
#
- Hamas expressed surprise at U.S. criticism and stated its commitment to achieving a permanent cease-fire agreement.
#
- Domestic pressure in Israel, especially from far-right coalition members, is increasing to end talks and intensify military efforts.
#
- Despite the withdrawal, talks continue discreetly while Israeli military operations in Gaza expand.

More on this subject:

---
- New York Times [(Grade: B+)](https://www.newswall.org/w/nytimes.com/rating): [Israel and the U.S. Withdraw From Cease-Fire Talks With Hamas](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/us/politics/israel-us-hamas-talks.html)
- Haaretz [(Grade: B)](https://www.newswall.org/w/haaretz.com/rating): [In the not-so-distant future, Israel will have to reckon with its war crimes in Gaza](https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-07-21/ty-article-opinion/.premium/in-the-not-so-distant-future-israel-will-have-to-reckon-with-its-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000198-2dcd-dce9-abfd-6fefcc7f0000)
- CNN.com [(Grade: C+)](https://www.newswall.org/w/cnn.com/rating): [US recalls negotiating team as prospects for a Gaza ceasefire dim and humanitarian situation gets worse](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/24/politics/us-recalls-team-gaza-ceasefire-talks)
- tagesschau.de [(Grade: A)](https://www.newswall.org/w/tagesschau.de/rating): [Ceasefire talks with Hamas: US and Israel withdraw negotiators from Doha](https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/asien/gaza-verhandlungen-usa-hamas-100.html)
- WION [(Grade: C)](https://www.newswall.org/w/wionews.com/rating): [&amp;#x27;Hamas acted in selfish way&amp;#x27;: Israel recalls negotiators, US walks away from Gaza talks - What went wrong?](https://www.wionews.com/world/-hamas-acted-in-selfish-way-israel-recalls-negotiators-us-walks-away-from-gaza-talks-what-went-wrong-1753380607841)
- Associated Press [(Grade: A-)](https://www.newswall.org/w/apnews.com/rating): [Trump envoy Witkoff says US cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks](https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-trump-witkoff-gaza-ceasefire-4d713a205d5d33e664b7c5853c6f5a1a)

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The escalating Israel-Gaza conflict has led to calls for a labor strike in Israel by families of hostages, amid heavy military operations in Gaza.

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