Has Israel Abandoned the Hostages?

In an understandable show of anxiety and frustration on Thursday, many families of the remaining hostages held a demonstration at the border with Gaza. They shouted through loudspeakers, hoping their loved ones could hear messages of support.

They had assembled a convoy of more than 300 vehicles which travelled from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to Kibbutz Be’eri on the Gaza border, to protest about the lack of success in reaching a ceasefire agreement.

This was the second day of an event using the slogan "End the Abandonment - Convoy to the Strip’s Border", which was supported by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Many of them hold Israel’s government responsible for the failure to achieve a release deal - as do most international media organisations. The mother of Tamir Adar, who was killed in captivity, demonstrated that feeling when she called out:

"If you can’t hear me, then let Bibi hear: You failed to protect us for 20 years.
Protect us now and bring everyone home."

Israel’s leaders believe that 103 of the 251 hostages taken on October 7th are still in captivity in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 who have been confirmed dead. There are also two other Israeli civilians, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers captured at the end of the conflict in 2014.

But Israel’s negotiators have been frustrated by the vagueness of Hamas statements about how many hostages could be released. Indeed, back in November 2023, when the previous exchange deal broke down, Hamas was unable to continue releasing 10 hostages each day.

On Wednesday, the Jewish Chronicle reported intelligence sources as saying Hamas only holds about 20 of the hostages. The rest are thought to be held by other terror groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Mujahideen Brigades, the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

That complicates matters tremendously, especially when these groups are said to be involved in a dispute with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

In this interview with MSNBC, retired Admiral James Stavridis says that every successful hostage rescue puts more pressure on Hamas to negotiate.