The Israel-Hamas War: Operation Iron Sword
The Hostages
(October 7 , 2023 - Present)
By Mitchell Bard
Hamas Takes Hostages
A Deadly Error
Pause for Hostage Release
Hamas Reneges on Deal
Learning From the Hostages
Unfathomable Trauma
Negotiation Stalemate
A Dramatic Rescue
UN Supports Biden Plan
Guarded Optimism
More Hostages Found Dead
Losing Hope
Hamas Takes Hostages
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In addition to the horrific murders of October 7, 2023, Israelis were also appalled to learn that more than 100 hostages (later revised to 242 and then 251, including 33 children) were taken by the Hamas terrorists, most believed to be civilians, including a Holocaust survivor, older adults, women, six Bedouins, and 32 children as young as nine months. At least 12 Americans and nationals from several other countries were believed to be among those kidnapped. A video showed four Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were killed soon after being taken captive.
The IDF recovered a manual from one of the terrorists with instructions on how to handle the Israelis they captured. It said “those expected to resist and those that pose a threat” should be killed. The rest should be blindfolded, then “reassured,” to keep them obedient. “Use them as human shields,” it says, and use “electric shocks” to control them. Kids were to be separated from their parents. The directions in the manual indicate the terrorists expected to be forced into a standoff with Israeli troops and advised them to collect supplies to survive a siege.
Hamas official Khaled Meshaal said the group had kidnapped enough Israeli soldiers to negotiate the release of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Captured terrorists revealed during interrogations that they had been ordered to kidnap civilians, including older people and children. One said, “Whoever brings a hostage back [to Gaza] gets $10,000 and an apartment.”
President Joe Biden said he was sending experts to help secure the release of hostages. Reportedly, these included FBI negotiators and special forces hostage rescue teams. “We’re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise on assist and recovery.” He added, “Folks, there’s a lot we’re doing, I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home.”
The United States, Egypt, and Qatar were reportedly seeking to facilitate an agreement to exchange Israeli women and children for women in Israeli jails. Reuters said that Qatar was trying to arrange the exchange of the women and children for 36 Palestinian women and children held by Israel. Israel denied the reports.
Hamas official Ali Baraka said that any hostage exchange should include Hamas prisoners in Europe.
As one would expect, the families of the missing in Israel beseeched public officials for aid for their loved ones.
The number of hostages seriously complicates the Israeli response. Hamas hides them and uses them as human shields to discourage attacks on their positions. Without knowing their location, Israel could inadvertently harm them in airstrikes. Even if the hostages can be found, special forces are likely to face heavily armed terrorists who might kill their captives, or they might be injured in the crossfire.
In addition, a Hamas spokesperson threatened to kill Israeli hostages if Israeli airstrikes hit civilian homes in Gaza without warning.
On October 20, 2023, two American hostages, Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, were released. Hamas acknowledged that Qatar played a role in negotiating their release.
Two more female hostages were released three days later. Nurit Yitzhak (79) and Yocheved Lifshitz (85) from Kibbutz Nir Oz were set free for “compelling humanitarian and health reasons.” Their husbands remained captive, so it was understandable the two women would be reticent about saying too much publicly about their treatment. Lifshitz did say she had been “through hell,” was beaten, and held in a “spider’s web” of underground tunnels in Gaza. She also related that a doctor had treated injured hostages because “they were scared we’d become sick.”
Though happy for their release, Israeli officials were concerned about negotiations for only dual citizens. “Israel will not be a party to a ‘selection’ for holders of foreign passports for release,” an allusion to the process used by the Nazis to decide which Jews would live and die in some death camps.
Still, Israel hoped delaying its ground offensive would result in progress in hostage negotiations. National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called Qatar’s efforts to secure the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas “crucial.”
Hamas claimed that some 50 hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel did not confirm this.
On October 30, Israeli forces rescued Pvt. Ori Megidish.
A Deadly Error
A devastating accident occurred on December 15 when IDF soldiers mistakenly killed three hostages. According to early reports, the men had either escaped or been abandoned. They came out of a building without shirts, apparently to show the soldiers they did not have any explosives on their bodies. One also carried a white cloth. The IDF said the soldiers did not correctly follow the rules of engagement. The IDF chief of staff accepted responsibility while explaining the challenges of urban warfare and the need for soldiers to be alert for ambushes and booby traps. The entire nation was heartbroken by the news, and families of other hostages saw the incident as another reason to accelerate efforts to negotiate their release. Days earlier, they were infuriated by news that the government would not allow the Mossad chief to return to Qatar for talks. After the hostages, he reportedly met with Qatari officials to resume negotiations.
The families who don’t know if their loved ones are dead or alive are in agony and, understandably, want the government to do everything possible to ensure their safe returns. They want to accept Hamas’s demands that all terrorists in Israeli jails be released in exchange for the hostages. The government has given no indication it is willing to make such a deal, though, in the past, it has.
The Pentagon revealed that U.S. special operations forces and drones are in Israel to help Israel “identify hostages, including American hostages.” The New York Times said other Western nations had also moved special forces closer to Israel to help with possible rescue or evacuation operations.
On November 9, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) released a video of an older woman and young boy it said they were holding and were prepared to release.
Chairs and gifts for missing children in “Hostage Square”
Late in the evening of November 20, the Israeli cabinet agreed to a deal for the release of 30 children, eight mothers, and 12 other women over four days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged not to accept a ceasefire unless all the hostages were released, but under pressure from the families and the United States, he backed down. According to the deal, Israel would release three Palestinian prisoners for every hostage, a total of 150 female and young adults. Their names were to be published so members of the public would have an opportunity to object to freeing a particular inmate responsible for a crime against them. Israel said it would increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, halt its ground operations, and suspend aerial surveillance so long as Hamas lived up to the bargain, with ten hostages released each day. Hamas agreed to allow the Red Cross to visit hostages and bring them medicine.
Netanyahu credited President Biden for his involvement, which he said resulted in more hostages being released with fewer Israeli concessions. In previous days, Biden had been pressuring the Qataris, the principal mediaries, to work harder to make a deal.
Netanyahu promised to resume the war after the hostages were brought home, but there was an intimation that so long as Hamas continued releasing captives, Israel would hold its fire. While everyone understood the pressure on him to find an answer for the families, fears were also expressed that the ceasefire would allow Hamas to regroup, move, and set more boobytraps. These concerns were the reason Netanyahu had opposed a truce.
Pause for Hostage Release
The ceasefire went into effect at 7:00 a.m. GMT on November 24. Fifteen minutes later, a rocket was launched from Gaza and intercepted by Iron Dome. Israel did not respond. The first 13 hostages were released at 4:00 p.m. Israel then set 39 Palestinian prisoners free. Ten Thai and one Filipino captive were let go after the Thai government negotiated a deal with Iranian mediation.
Netanyahu’s office claimed that Israel had negotiated the inclusion of a clause in the hostage deal for the ICRC to visit all of the remaining hostages; however, the ICRC said it was unaware of this, and Hamas insisted no visits would be allowed.
Hamas delayed the release of the second batch of hostages, making false claims about Israel failing to comply with the terms of the agreement. Hamas said the agreed number of aid trucks had not been allowed into Gaza and objected to Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners who were near the end of their sentences. Representatives from Qatar took the unprecedented step of flying to Israel to pressure Hamas to fulfill its commitment. The U.S., through Qatar and Egypt, also pressed Hamas to act. Israel threatened to resume fighting if the hostages were not released by midnight. Near the deadline, 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals were released, including seven Israeli children ranging in age from 3 to 16 and six Israeli women ranging in age from 18 to 67.
Among those freed was 9-year-old Emily Hand, an Israeli-Irish girl who was initially believed to have been killed by Hamas. The Irish Prime Minister angered Israelis when he said, “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen tweeted: “Emily Hand was not ‘lost,’ she was kidnapped by a terror organization worse than ISIS that murdered her stepmother. Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas, and you @LeoVaradkar are trying to legitimize and normalize terror. Shame on you!”
On the third day of the ceasefire, Hamas released nine children, four women, four Thai workers, and one Russian-Israeli, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin had demanded be freed. The children included Israeli-American Abigail Irdan, who had just turned four and whose parents were killed in front of her on October 7. Elma Avraham, 84, was airlifted directly to Soroka Hospital and was reportedly in serious condition.
President Biden expressed joy at Irdan’s release, but 10 Americans remained unaccounted for. At least two were believed to be hostages.
Israel released 39 convicted Palestinian women and minors from prison and allowed 200 trucks to transport humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
One of many teddy bears placed on benches |
Families reunited with those released said they had been kept underground in tunnels for their entire captivity, and their eyes had to adjust to sunlight. Some slept on chairs pushed together. Food was also scarce; they were fed limited rice and bread and returned malnourished. Most captives did not know the fate of other family members, some of whom were killed on October 7. Irdan, for example, did not know she was now an orphan. Others reportedly could listen to Hebrew language radio and heard that their relatives had died in the Hamas attack.
One female hostage whose arm was injured said a veterinarian treated her. Two brothers, 12 and 16, said they were branded so that if they escaped, they could be identified. Relatives of 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi said he was beaten, forced to watch video footage of atrocities Hamas committed on October 7, and threatened with guns along with other children when they cried. The children were forbidden to make noise; all they could do to pass the time in captivity was to draw a little and play with cards. Emily Hand, 9, returned with a head full of lice and spoke only in whispers.
The Russian Israeli, Roni Kariboy, said the building where he was being held was bombed and collapsed. He escaped but was captured by Gaza civilians, who turned him over to Hamas.
One of the captives said she and other hostages were taken to Khan Yunis, and after an hour’s walk, they entered a tunnel and walked two more hours until they reached a large hall where they met a terrorist who introduced himself in Hebrew. “Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar,” he said. “You are the safest here. Nothing will happen to you.” Then he left. The hostages probably were unaware that Sinwar was the leader of Hamas.
Biden said his goal is “to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief to those in need in Gaza.” In response, Netanyahu acknowledged, “There is a plan that says it is possible to free, every extra day, another ten hostages. That is welcome. In the same breath, I also told the president we will return, with our full might, to achieve our objectives: Hamas’s annihilation, and ensure that Gaza not revert to being what it was, and of course, to free all of our hostages.”
After the first three days of the ceasefire, 18 children and 43 women were still believed to be hostages. Hamas was said to be unaware of the location of all the remaining captives. Israel and Hamas were arguing over the last group to be released and accusing each other of bad faith. Israel said Hamas had violated the agreement to release children and their mothers together after 13-year-old Hila Rotem was freed without her mother.
The asymmetry of the exchanges is reflected not only in the 3 to 1 ratio of prisoners to hostages released but also in the fact that the Palestinians have all been convicted or charged with violent crimes while the Israelis are all innocent civilians. The Palestinians are teenagers, most older than 16, while Jewish captives are as young as ten months old.
What was initially set to be the final exchange was threatened when Hamas broke the ceasefire, attacking IDF troops along a beach road in northern Gaza and attaching an explosive device to an Israeli vehicle near the Rantisi Hospital. Israel did not immediately retaliate, and 11 hostages were released – nine children and two mothers. Still, the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother, and their parents, Yarden and Shiri, remained captive.
The IDF also announced that three of the soldiers abducted on October 7 were dead. Israel said it would not extend the ceasefire beyond the two additional days agreed to the day before. The ground campaign would resume after the exchange on November 28.
On November 29, Hamas released ten hostages, including one American. Two Russian Israelis were freed separately at Putin’s request. The following day, only eight Israelis were let go in violation of the agreement that ten would be released each day to maintain the pause in fighting. Hamas claimed the two Russians from the day before should be counted.
Hamas Reneges on Deal
Talks broke down when Hamas offered to release only seven hostages and three bodies. Israel rejected the idea of exchanging live prisoners for hostages’ bodies. Then, when Hamas failed to produce a list of hostages that it was prepared to release by the deadline on December 1 and renewed rocket attacks on southern Israel, the ceasefire ended, and Israel resumed its campaign.
i24 News reported that before the ceasefire ended, 105 hostages, 81 Israelis, 23 Thais, and one Filipino had been freed. An additional Israeli thought to have been kidnapped was found dead on December 1. Another hostage was reported dead on December 9. Hamas claimed the youngest hostage, a 10-month-old infant, was killed along with his four-year-old brother and their mother. Later, it said it would release the family but violated the truce that day, and their fate is unknown.
Qatar and Egypt worked on an agreement to end the war by arranging an exchange of all the hostages for thousands of Palestinian terrorists, exiling Hamas leaders the way the PLO was allowed to leave Lebanon in 1982, with an Israeli promise not to assassinate them. Gaza would be demilitarized, but it was unclear who the governing authority would be. Israel showed no interest in this idea, and it was rejected by Sinwar as well. Israel has also said it would not accept Hamas’s demands to end the war, release all Palestinian prisoners, and withdraw its troops as a precondition for negotiations. Netanyahu said, “If we agree to this, then our warriors fell in vain. If we agree to this, we won’t be able to ensure the security of our citizens.” Nevertheless, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar were reportedly working on a deal in hopes of ending the war.
Learning From the Hostages
As the released hostages began to recover from their ordeal, more information became public about their condition and treatment while captive. One revelation was that Hamas gave hostages tranquilizers to make them appear to be in good spirits when their release was filmed. Most of the hostages lost as much as 20% of their body weight from malnutrition. Those with health problems did not receive the medication they needed.
Danielle Aloni (44), her daughter Emilia (6), her sister, brother-in-law, and their twin three-year-old daughters were forced out of their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz when it was set on fire. She left a voice message for her family: “They are burning our home, terrorists have come in, they tried to shoot us. We are being burned in the home. If we go out they will shoot us.”
When they emerged from their home, they were put in a trailer with others taken captive. The families became separated, and Aloni was left with her daughter and niece, Emma. She said when they crossed into Gaza, crowds of civilians began beating the Israelis. Once in Gaza, a terrorist pulled Emma away, and Danielle and Emilia were taken into the tunnels for three days before being taken to an apartment for 13 days. They returned to the tunnels after Israel began bombing the area. She saw other hostages who were injured but received no medical treatment. At one point, she and two other hostages were forced to make a propaganda video. When they were finally released after 49 days, she said crowds attacked the Red Cross vehicle they rode in. The rest of her family remained captive.
Itay Regev, a 19-year-old freed in the hostage exchange, recalled when he arrived in Gaza, he was paraded in front of laughing and cheering Gazans while “the terrorists started shouting and screaming and celebrating. It was like a big party.” He was taken to a hospital where a doctor removed a bullet from his leg without anesthesia while the kidnappers threatened to kill him if he made noise. Afterward, he was moved, disguised as a woman in a burqa and as a corpse. Kept in a locked room with no sunlight, he was told that Israeli airstrikes were killing hostages.
Regev’s sister Maya (21) was also shot fleeing from the Nova festival. She underwent surgery to reattach her leg, but it was done incorrectly and left her with it angled in the wrong way, making it difficult for her to walk.
Many hostages were reluctant to speak about their ordeals for fear of endangering the Israelis still in captivity. One Thai did speak about how he and other Thais were beaten. He said that the Israelis they were with were singled out for ruthless treatment, including being whipped with electrical wires. They were also interrogated to learn about their military service and that of the other hostages.
On December 8, Israel confirmed that two civilians believed to have been taken hostage were identified among those killed on October 7. The bodies of two more hostages were recovered on December 12.
Following a phone call between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister demanded the release of hostages in telephone calls on December 10-11 with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. It was unclear whether Russia was seeking the release of all the hostages or any Russian nationals.
After Hamas violated the ceasefire, concern grew for the welfare of the hostages. Those who were released began to tell harrowing tales of abuse and lack of food and medical attention. Hamas did not allow Red Cross visits, and as the IDF campaign continued, several hostages were found to have died or been killed in captivity.
On December 13, President Biden held an extraordinary meeting at the White House for nearly two hours with the 13 family members of eight Americans held hostage. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of 35-year-old Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, said afterward, “I think we all came away feeling that as families of hostages, of American-Israeli hostages, which are eight out of a total of 138 hostages, felt that — we felt before, and we were only reinforced in seeing and believing that we could have no better friend, in Washington or in the White House, than President Biden himself and his administration.”
In the ongoing psychological war, Hamas continued to disseminate videos of hostages. In mid-January, a video showed three hostages, two of whom were believed to be dead.
In April 2024, another hostage spoke about her captivity. Noga Weiss, 18, was taken from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri and released after 50 days. Her father was killed on October 7, and his body was taken to Gaza. Noga said when she arrived in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians, including children, cheered and tried to hit her inside the vehicle she was traveling in. She was shuffled to different homes and was forced to wear a hijab so she could not be identified as a hostage.
She revealed that one of her Hamas tormentors said she would stay in Gaza forever. He bought her a ring and said they would get married and have children together.
“He told me, ‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay here with me and have my children.’”
Asked how she responded, Noga said, “I pretended to laugh so he wouldn’t shoot me in the head.”
Maya Regev, 21, was shot in the leg as she tried to escape from the Nova Festival. “When changing bandages, when they wanted to see the wounds, they would purposely cause pain,” she said. “[The doctor] would take chlorine, alcohol, and sometimes even something like apple cider vinegar, and would pour it in [the wound] and apply pressure.”
She wanted to resist when the doctor picked at her flesh with a knife but was afraid because he had a gun. “When they were changing my bandages, they would give me ketamine and pethidine intravenously so that I wouldn’t scream. But they’re not really pain relievers; they’re muscle relaxants. So I couldn’t respond, but I could feel everything,” she explained in an interview with Channel 12 News.
When she was released from Gaza, she had serious infections, and it took several surgeries and nine months of rehabilitation before she could walk again with crutches.
Agam Goldstein-Almog lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when terrorists entered his home and killed his father and sister. He was forced into a car with his mother and two younger brothers and taken to Gaza. Her guards forced her to recite Muslim prayer and to wear a hijab. They said they would find her a husband in Gaza. Goldstein-Almog said she met six female hostages in a tunnel who told her about men with guns coming into the shower and touching them.
Her family was moved to a house in a school filled with Palestinian women and children to join them as human shields while Hamas launched rockets from inside the school compound. The Gazans cheered. Just before being released in the November hostage exchange, Goldstein-Almog said her guard told her, “In the next war, Hamas would return to kill us. There would be no hostage-taking, no more dealmaking.”
When she rode out of Gaza in a Red Cross vehicle, she said, “a mob formed, just as when we arrived. But weeks of Israel’s intense bombing had changed the mood. Instead of laughing and taking photos, the Gazans banged on the windows and screamed at us: Die, die, die.”
Forty-year-old Amit Soussana told The Times her captors took her to the roof of a private home and tied her up with chains. One of the terrorists later sexually assaulted her. He and other terrorists also tried to extract information from her by mocking and hitting her. “Then other terrorists moved two armchairs, brought two sticks, and simply hung me upside down between the armchairs, like a chicken. I had masking tape over my face, my head facing the wall, and the handcuffs were tied above my knuckles to cause more pain. They hit me for about 45 minutes. One with a wooden stick and the others with their hands and guns.”
When another hostage asked her why she didn’t cry, Soussana said, “I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.”
Soussana and two other hostages were taken from a house to a tunnel. They told the terrorists guarding them, “We can’t stay here! We can’t breathe!”
She said, “We heard the bombings above us and were afraid that if the terrorists were killed up there, no one would know where we were, afraid that the shaft would get sealed.”
Soussana survived 55 days of abuse before she was released.
Unfathomable Trauma
The survivors of the October 7 attack by Hamas endured an unimaginable ordeal, marked by profound loss, violence, and enduring emotional scars that words alone cannot fully convey. Below are different testimonies of how the survivors are coping, revealing their resilience and the ongoing challenges they face in the aftermath of such unfathomable trauma.
Months after Hamas’s massacre at the Nova music festival that took the lives of over 360 people, survivors, and family members meet up once a week to participate in trance therapy and prove they will dance again:
Negotiation Stalemate
On January 16, 2024, Israel and Hamas reached a deal, brokered by Qatar and France, to allow for medication to be delivered to Israeli hostages in return for the delivery of more medicine and aid to Palestinian civilians. According to the arrangement, Gazans were to receive 1,000 boxes of medicine for each one provided to the hostages. Hamas also had demanded that Israel be prevented from inspecting the aid delivery, but after right-wing members of the government objected, Netanyahu said they would be checked. Israel has no way to ensure the hostages get the medication as Hamas still refused to allow the Red Cross to visit them.
In a meeting with hostage families on January 22, Netanyahu said Israel, not Hamas, had made an offer to free the hostages. Israeli news reported the Israeli proposal called for the remaining women and elderly hostages to be released first, followed by young men and then soldiers, along with the bodies of killed hostages. In exchange, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners, pause fighting for 30 days, withdraw forces from the main population centers, and allow the gradual return of Palestinians to the north.
Negotiations continued with different formulas for trading hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a ceasefire. Still, Hamas rejected every proposal, insisting that Israel first remove all its troops from Gaza, agree to a permanent ceasefire, and release most, if not all, of the security prisoners in Israeli jails. As desperately as Israel wanted the hostages back, the government would not agree to any deal that would inhibit its ability to crush Hamas and ensure it could not govern or threaten Israeli border communities. Officials maintained that continuing the military campaign was necessary to pressure Hamas to accept a deal.
“Surrender to Hamas’s delusional demands, that we’ve just heard, not only would not bring about the freedom of the hostages, but it would only invite an additional slaughter; it would invite disaster for Israel that no Israeli citizens want,” Netanyahu said on February 7, 2024.
Hostage families continued to pressure the government to do anything to win the release of their loved ones. Divisions were also reported within the war cabinet, with some members arguing that freeing the hostages must take priority over fighting Hamas.
As the military campaign continued, the bodies of several hostages were recovered. On January 3, 2024, the IDF confirmed that one hostage, Sahur Baruch, was killed during a failed rescue attempt. Hamas still held his body.
In early February came the grim news that of the 136 people still known to be hostages, more than 30, and perhaps as many as 50 were dead.
Hamas was believed to hold most of the hostages; PIJ and crime organizations held the rest. The remaining hostages include 20 women, two minors, ten people aged 75 or older, and 11 foreign citizens. Including Israelis, hostages have citizenship from 21 countries, including six from the United States.
The United States and the UK have supported the effort to locate the hostages using unarmed drone flights over Gaza. The possibility of a rescue, however, appeared less and less likely as time went on, in part because of the belief that the hostages were being used as shields. It was reported, for example, that Israel knew where Sinwar was hiding but couldn’t get to him because he surrounded himself with hostages.
On February 11, a dramatic rescue operation carried out by Israeli special forces rescued two hostages who were being held in a building rather than a tunnel. The two men, ages 61 and 70, were in good condition. The joy of their return was tempered by the knowledge that 134 remained in captivity.
Some 100 relatives of hostages traveled to the Hague on February 14, 2024, to submit charges of kidnapping, sexual violence, torture, and other crimes to the International Criminal Court.
The U.S. continued to push for a deal that would end the war. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. was “looking for a temporary pause as part of the hostage deal, and then to build on that into something more enduring.”
Negotiations continued but showed no signs of progress as Hamas continued to make unacceptable demands for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and release thousands of prisoners.
Israeli forces discovered unopened packages of medications with the names of hostages in the Nasser Hospital in late February, a month after the medications were supposed to be delivered. Qatar subsequently said it received confirmation from Hamas that medications were being distributed to the hostages. Israel has no way to verify the claim.
On March 5, President Biden called for a ceasefire before Ramadan, knowing that Israel has said it will begin its ground offensive in Rafah if one is not secured. The administration said Israel had accepted conditions proposed by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar and that the ball was in Hamas’s court.
Hamas continued to make demands Israel considered unreasonable, and Ramadan began without any progress in the negotiations. Despite Hamas calling for support from Palestinians during the holiday and marching on the Temple Mount, the first week passed peacefully in Jerusalem.
 Hersh Goldberg |
Families of the hostages and their supporters continued to protest and urge the government to reach a deal. The United States and other foreign governments also pressured Israel because of their desire to see a ceasefire to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and the war to end. Israel, however, remained adamant it would not accept Hamas’s demands to withdraw its forces, end the war, and release hundreds of prisoners, including murderers serving life sentences.
After more than six months, Hamas continued to refuse to reveal the fate of any of the hostages, one of Israel’s demands. Israel did determine that Hamas was holding the bodies of more people who died on October 7. Soldiers recovered the body of one hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz after receiving information from the interrogation of terrorists. The number believed captive was reduced to 133, including five Americans, with fewer than 100 thought to be still alive. The number could be smaller as Hamas has said for propaganda purposes that 70 died in Israeli attacks. In negotiations for the release of 40 hostages, Hamas said it only had 20, raising alarms about how many were still alive. Another Hamas official, however, said that information was incorrect and claimed 30 IDF officers were being held in secure places.
In late April, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Hersh Goldberg. It was the first sign of life since a video of him being kidnapped with part of his arm missing. The video, which the family agreed to release to the public, further enflamed passions in Israel for a deal to bring all the hostages home after more than 200 days of captivity. Negotiations were ongoing, with Israel reportedly prepared to accept as few as 20 hostages in a prisoner exchange. Hamas, however, was sticking to its demand for an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
President Biden and Abigail Idan
In Washington, President Biden met with four-year-old Abigal Idan and her family. Abigail, an American citizen, saw her parents killed in front of her before being taken hostage. She was released during the ceasefire. “Our time together yesterday was a reminder of the work we have in front of us to secure the release of all remaining hostages,” he said.
The following day, Biden and the leaders of 17 other countries released a joint statement calling for the immediate release of the hostages.
At the end of April, Israel made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called an “extraordinarily generous” proposal to pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages. “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” he said. Reportedly, one of the concessions Israel made was to ask for only 33 hostages instead of 40 in the first phase of the agreement. This may be because fewer hostages are still alive. Israel also offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of perhaps thousands of prisoners.
The proposal has caused a rift in the government, with far-right members threatening to bring down the government if the invasion of Rafah is canceled. With the support of other ministers, Netanyahu has prioritized reaching a hostage deal. Nevertheless, he reiterated, “The idea that we stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve absolute victory.”
Meanwhile, to increase the psychological pressure and torment on Israelis, Hamas released new videos with three hostages reading coerced scripts and calling on their government to make a deal.
Another hostage was declared dead, leaving 128 in captivity, including the bodies of at least 35 as of May 3, 2024.
Hamas continued to insist that Israel end the war and withdraw entirely from Gaza in hostage negotiations, which was a rejection of the deal Israel was prepared to accept. Consequently, Israel began issuing evacuation warnings to residents of Rafah on May 6 in anticipation of a ground operation. By May 20, nearly one million had left.
While the focus was on Rafah, the IDF reinvaded Jabaliya, where forces recovered the bodies of four hostages from a tunnel, raising the official number of dead to 43 as of May 17. The discovery of the bodies was possible because of field intelligence and information obtained from interrogating terrorists who had been arrested. Only one of the four was previously thought to be dead. The bodies were found in body bags, which was interpreted as a sign that Hamas was planning to return them in a ceasefire deal.
Ynet published a report that the last round of hostage negotiations collapsed because Egypt secretly changed the terms Israel had agreed to. The change “led to outrage among officials in Israel, as well as in the United States and Qatar, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.”
On May 23, the IDF found three more bodies of hostages in tunnels in Jabalya. One held Mexican and French citizenship, and another was Brazilian. The number of captives was then thought to be 125, though more could be dead.
The families of hostages released a video showing the capture and mistreatment of five female Israeli soldiers. Surrounded by armed terrorists, some are bloody and wounded. Seven women who worked as lookouts near the border of Gaza, ages 19 or 20, were taken hostage on October 7. One was rescued early in the war, and a second was killed in captivity. The video showed the five believed to be still alive. The footage was made public to pressure the government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would free their loved ones.
On May 31, President Biden laid out a three-phase Israeli proposal that pairs the release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire,” which he described as the best hope to end the war in Gaza. Phase 1 would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.” Phase 2 would involve the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.” Biden added that “as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently.’” In Phase 3, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence, and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families,” the president said.
In response to Biden’s proposal for a ceasefire, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, repeated his demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire and withdraw all its troops. He added the group would not surrender its weapons.
A Dramatic Rescue
On June 8, 2024, Israeli forces rescued four hostages – Noa Argamani (26), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (41) – from Hamas in central Gaza in a complex operation that took months to plan and was conducted during daylight to surprise the guards. The four, two concert-goers and two security guards, were kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Re’im on October 7. The elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit and Shin Bet agents coordinated a simultaneous raid on two civilian buildings in Nuseirat, where Hamas hid the hostages and paid families to hold them. Argamani was found at one site, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the other. The operation came with a heavy cost, however, as Yamam commander Arnon Zmora was killed. Given his ultimate sacrifice, the operation was renamed “Operation Arnon.”
The U.S. acknowledged providing intelligence to assist the operation. The Washington Post subsequently reported, “The United States has ramped up intelligence collection on the militant group in Gaza and is sharing an extraordinary amount of drone footage, satellite imagery, communications intercepts and data analysis using advanced software, some of it powered by artificial intelligence” to assist in the search for hostages.
Subsequently, false rumors circulated about more direct U.S. involvement, including a specious claim that the U.S.-built pier was used in the operation.
The Hamas Health Ministry immediately claimed hundreds of civilians were killed during the operation. Israel acknowledged some died because the hostages were held in a densely populated civilian area and that the rescuers came under intense fire from terrorists in the homes where the hostages were held and from the surrounding area as they led the “diamonds,” as they were code-named, to safety.
The hostages were initially said to be in good physical condition after their more than eight-month ordeal; however, reports subsequently indicated they were malnourished and were exhibiting signs of Stockholm syndrome. The three men spent six months sleeping on mattresses on the floor in a dark room. They said guards beat them and threatened their lives.
Ziv said he learned Arabic from Al-Jazeera broadcasts he watched in captivity and that their captors made them read the Koran and pray every day.
Argamani also learned Arabic and said she used the language to help other female hostages who had been held with her to get things from their captors. She was held in four different apartments, she said and was forced to cook and wash dishes in the last home, reportedly belonging to a wealthy Palestinian family. She was unaware soldiers had come to rescue her until one asked if he could put her over his shoulder. Their escape was complicated, she said, when the truck they were using to escape broke down. When she got to Israel, she was taken to see her mother, who had terminal cancer.
Kozlov’s parents flew in to see him from their St. Petersburg, Russia home.
One heartbreaking aspect of the story was that the father of Almog Meir died hours before his son was released. Meir’s aunt said her brother had grown despondent and stayed mostly alone and likely died of a heart attack.
After the operation, it was reported that the three male hostages were held in the home of Abdallah Aljamal, a Palestinian journalist and member of Hamas.
On June 10, 2024, it was reported that senior officials in the U.S. administration discussed the possibility of negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas for the release of the five Israeli-American hostages still held in Gaza if talks with Israel don’t result in an agreement. The Biden administration believes Hamas is holding five U.S. citizens hostage: Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Omer Neutra, and Keith Siegel, as well as the bodies of three other American citizens who were murdered on October 7.
UN Supports Biden Plan
On the same day, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted U.S.-led resolution 2735, following President Biden’s initiative to end the war and release all Israeli hostages. The resolution reiterates the three-phase plan previously laid out by President Biden, with minor modifications after U.S. consultations with other Security Council members. The resolution was viewed as increasing pressure on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement; however, Hamas added what Blinken called unworkable changes that Israel immediately rejected.
Biden became increasingly critical of Hamas, saying, “Hamas needs to move” while insisting on June 13 that he hadn’t lost hope.
More evidence of civilian complicity in the holding of hostages was revealed after the rescue of the four hostages in private homes. During Ada Sagi’s 53 days in captivity, she said she was hidden in a family home with children, a nurse’s apartment, and a hospital. She said she overheard students being paid to watch over hostages.
Sagi believed she had been in Nasser Hospital, where some ten hostages were kept, one of whom remains in captivity. The hospital director denied hostages were at the hospital. When the IDF raided the hospital in February, it found 200 terrorists, weapons, and medicine that were supposed to be delivered to the hostages.
On June 20, the nation was shocked to hear that as many as 66 of the 116 hostages (102 men, 16 women, and two children) still held by Hamas were dead, leaving only 50 alive. The Wall Street Journal reported that the information came from a U.S. official familiar with U.S. intelligence and mediators in the hostage negotiations.
A few days later, hostage families, most of whom already were demonstrating against Netanyahu because they believed he was not doing enough to bring their loved ones home, were outraged when Netanyahu renounced the deal he had agreed to with the Biden administration. On June 23, he said, “I am ready to do a partial deal, it is no secret, that will bring back some of the people. But we are committed to continue the war after the pause in order to achieve the goal of destroying Hamas. I will not give up on this.”
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, an NGO that represents most of the hostages’ families, responded: “We strongly condemn the Prime Minister’s statement in which he walked back from the Israeli proposal. This means he is abandoning 120 hostages and harms the moral duty of the state of Israel to its citizens.”
The following day, the families of three of the hostages released a video taken by their kidnappers showing them thrown into a pickup truck, setting off a new round of criticism. Later that day, Netanyahu admitted that the proposal was his. “We are committed to the Israeli proposal, which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed.”
Netanyahu also had to shoot down a report in the New York Times that the military establishment supported a ceasefire if it led to the release of the hostages. Netanyahu said, “I don’t know who those unnamed parties are, but I’m here to make it unequivocally clear: it won’t happen… We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages.”
In the United States, a lawsuit was filed against UNRWA on behalf of victims of the Hamas massacre. The agency and its current and former senior officials are accused of aiding and abetting Hamas. “Defendants were warned repeatedly that their policies were directly providing assistance to Hamas. In the face of those warnings, Defendants continued those very policies,” the plaintiffs allege. “The resulting atrocities were foreseeable, and the Defendants are liable for aiding and abetting Hamas’ genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture.”
On July 1, the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal lawsuit alongside more than 100 American victims and survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and their family members, accusing Iran, Syria, and North Korea of providing material support for the attacks and seeking compensation from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
Guarded Optimism
Some optimism was expressed when Hamas dropped its demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing an agreement to release the hostages. Hamas reportedly said it would be willing to negotiate the truce during the deal’s first phase. Hamas was demanding that mediators guarantee a temporary ceasefire, the delivery of aid, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops while negotiations continued on implementing the second phase of the agreement.
The deal on the table was to include three stages:
- In stage one, a six-week ceasefire would take effect, during which 18-31 women, elderly, and wounded from among the hostages would be released. The IDF would continue to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and allow for the return of some displaced northern Gazans to their areas of residence.
- After 16 days of stage one, negotiations would occur for stage two, during which the remaining male hostages would be freed, and Israel would release Palestinian security prisoners currently held in Israeli jails.
- In stage three, any remaining hostages would be released, including the bodies of those who have already died. A process of reconstruction would begin in Gaza.
Netanyahu appeared to throw cold water on the prospects for a deal in reported conflict with the security services, IDF, and the mediators when he declared that Israel had four non-negotiable demands:
- Any deal will allow Israel to resume fighting until all of the objectives of the war have been achieved.
- There will be no smuggling of weapons to Hamas from Egypt to the Gaza border.
- There will be no return of thousands of armed terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip.
- Israel will maximize the number of living hostages who will be released from Hamas captivity.
Israel and Hamas also remained at loggerheads over several issues, most notably how many and which Palestinians would be released in exchange for the hostages. Netanyahu insisted on holding a veto over which prisoners Hamas asked to be released, a provision Hamas found unacceptable. Other obstacles included how Israel could allow citizens to return to their homes in the north without terrorists moving with them, whether Israel would have to stop its surveillance flights over Gaza during the ceasefire, and whether Israel would remove its troops from the Philadelphi Corridor. On the last point, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk Israel could withdraw forces from the Philadelphi Corridor if a solution is found to arms smuggling.
Even Netanyahu’s red lines went too far for the extremists in his coalition. They threatened to bolt from the coalition and bring down the government. However, opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid said their parties would support Netanyahu if a deal were signed.
Much of the Israeli public was growing increasingly angry at the failure of the government to free the hostages, with tens of thousands of people protesting, marching on the homes of the prime minister and government ministers, and calling for elections.
On July 16, 2024, a picture of four IDF surveillance soldiers held hostage was made public by their families. The relatives hoped to add pressure on the government to make a deal.
From left: Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Karina Ariev.
In a sign that Gazans might also be disenchanted with Hamas, the AP reported that senior Hamas officials were advocating the acceptance of the ceasefire. The messages indicated Sinwar might be unaware of the depth of the destruction in Gaza, which assumed the information would affect his decision-making, an idea some analysts doubted.
President Biden met with Liat Beinin Atzili, a dual U.S. citizen and survivor of the massacre, on July 8, 2024. He told her, “my work isn’t done until we secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.”
More Hostages Found Dead
On July 22, 2024, the IDF announced that two more hostages were dead, bringing the official total of those confirmed dead to 45 of the remaining 120.
On July 25, 2024, the IDF reported that the bodies of Sergeant Major (Res.) Ravid Aryeh Katz, Omer Goldin, Maya Goren, Tomer Ahimas, and Kiril Brodski, were retrieved from Gaza. The operation, conducted by the military and the Shin Bet, relied on precise intelligence and involved no confrontation with terrorists. The bodies were found hidden in a tunnel in the Khan Younis area that had been designated as a protected humanitarian area, illustrating again how Hamas exploits Israeli efforts to protect civilians.
Location where hostage bodies were found.
On July 26, 2024, it was reported that Hamas rejected Israel’s proposed changes to a hostage release deal. The changes included a vetting mechanism for civilians returning to northern Gaza to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the area disguised as civilians and Israel’s retention of the Philadelphi Corridor, which Egypt also opposed.
On July 31, 2024, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader and Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, in a predawn airstrike in Tehran, Iran. Israel had pledged to kill anyone involved in the October 7 massacre. Some analysts questioned the timing since Haniyeh was engaged in the hostage negotiations and believed his killing was likely to have an adverse impact on the talks.
Biden spoke to Netanyahu on August 1 and complained the prime minister was obstructing efforts to finalize a ceasefire, reportedly telling him, “stop bullshitting me.” The president was angry that the assassination of Haniyeh could jeopardize the hostage negotiations and trigger a wider war. At the end of what was described as a testy conversation, Biden reportedly said: “Don’t take the president for granted.”
Later, Biden said, “I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today — very direct. We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.”
Netanyahu repeatedly claimed that it was Hamas, not him, who was adding conditions to the deal the United States said Israel agreed to. Netanyahu was also at odds with his own military and intelligence chiefs, who believed he was jeopardizing the hostages’ lives. The prime minister was holding fast to his insistence on several conditions that were not in the Biden proposal he accepted in May:
- Maintaining a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah crossing to prevent further Hamas smuggling and rearmament.
- Creating a mechanism to prevent the return of terrorists to northern Gaza.
- Hamas turning over the names of the hostages to be freed in the first stage of the deal.
- Having a veto over which prisoners would be released and where they could go.
The negotiating team expressed a willingness to be more flexible in the talks, and defense officials argued Israel could afford to make compromises and needed to do so to end the suffering of the hostages. Netanyahu, however, remained unmoved, agreeing only to continue talks as Biden continued to pressure him to end the war.
As tensions increased with Iran and Hezbollah threatening to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of their men, some hope was held out that a ceasefire deal could be struck to preempt it. The more worrisome possibility was that an attack on Israel would occur before an agreement could be reached and scuttle the negotiations.
Hamas claimed on August 12, 2024, that a guard had killed a male captive and seriously wounded two female hostages whose lives the group was trying to save. Israel was unable to confirm the information.
A reminder of the cost of making a deal with terrorists came with the news that an Israeli was seriously wounded by a terrorist who was released from prison in November in that hostage exchange.
The Biden administration was casting an August 15 meeting in Doha as the final chance for a ceasefire, which it hoped would also forestall Iranian and Hezbollah revenge attacks on Israel. Hamas and Israel traded accusations over who was demanding changes to the May 27 proposal of the United States. The day before, Hamas said it would not participate in the negotiations, and no one representing the group showed up, leaving Qatar to speak for the group.
On the 16th, Biden received an update on the talks, saying the U.S. delegation advanced a bridging proposal. He said he was sending Blinken to Israel “to reaffirm my iron-clad support for Israel’s security, continue our intensive efforts to conclude this agreement and to underscore that with the comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal now in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process.”
After meeting Netanyahu, Blinken said the prime minister accepted the American proposal and that Hamas must do the same. Sinwar, however, reportedly believed that negotiations were a bluff meant to grant Israel further time to continue its military offensive, and Biden said after his speech to the Democratic National Convention that “Israel says they can work it out… Hamas is now backing away.”
Hamas then issued a statement calling Biden’s remarks an “American green light for the Zionist extremist government to commit more crimes against defenseless civilians.” It said the U.S. bridging proposal was a reversal of what had been agreed upon in July and that the U.S. was biased toward Israel.
The number of hostages was reduced to 109 less than 24 hours later when Israeli troops recovered the bodies of six men in a tunnel in southern Gaza. All had been captured alive on October 7, three from Kibbutz Nir Oz and two from the border community of Nirim. An estimated 73 hostages are still alive. Two children, Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old when he was abducted, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel, are the only children still held. Seven are foreign nationals – six Thais and one Nepali. Most of the others are Israeli or dual citizens.
Top left to right: Nadav Popplewell, 51; Yoram Metzger, 80;
Avraham Munder, 78; Chaim Peri, 79; Yagev Buchshtav, 35;
Alex Dancyg, 75 (z"l), recovered by the IDF on August 20, 2024.
While negotiations over a hostage deal appeared stalemated, the IDF found 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin Farhan al-Qadi in a tunnel on August 27. He was shot in the leg on October 7 at Kibbutz Magen, where he was a security guard when he refused to tell the terrorists where to find Jews. The kidnappers took him to a hospital, where he said his wound was stitched with a needle and thread without any anesthetic. Afterward, he was held in an apartment for two months with other hostages before being taken to a tunnel where he was alone in the dark, except for his guards, for the remainder of his captivity. He was not given any special treatment because he was a Muslim and was fed little more than slices of bread. When his guards heard soldiers drilling nearby, they planted explosives in the tunnel. Al-Qadi told the soldiers where they were so they could be defused.
Al-Qadi was the eighth hostage to be rescued, the first from a tunnel. This reduced the number of hostages to 108 (including four taken before October 7). Two days later, the body of another hostage, an Israeli soldier killed on October 7, was recovered.
The Jewish Chronicle reminded readers that one of the most significant and overlooked obstacles to a ceasefire is that Hamas only holds about 20 of the hostages; many, if not all, are handcuffed around Sinwar. Other hostages are held by smaller terror and criminal groups, some of which are opposed to Sinwar and others who want to ensure prisoners from their organizations are released in any deal. They also reject the Israeli idea of deporting the prisoners rather than allowing them to go to Gaza or the West Bank. Hence, even if Sinwar were to agree to a deal, he probably could not deliver all the hostages.
Disagreements between the security establishment and the prime minister surfaced once again after the cabinet endorsed Netanyahu’s position that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor. This stance was contrary to defense officials’ views, who suggested that Israel could withdraw from the area to facilitate a deal without compromising security. Defense Minister Gallant argued that reaching an agreement was essential for securing the return of hostages, de-escalating hostilities, and creating an opportunity to prevent a regional war. He emphasized that such an agreement could incentivize Hezbollah and Iran to stand down. However, Sinwar seemed determined to provoke a multifront war against Israel and might, therefore, be inclined to reject a hostage deal.
While the government ministers argued among themselves and protests continued calling for a ceasefire and return of the hostages, the IDF continued its search for additional hostages in the tunnels. The country was again shocked when soldiers found six bodies in another tunnel more than 60 feet underground, not far from where al-Qadi was rescued. The entrance to the tunnel was in a kindergarten, with walls covered with Disney characters.
From top left: Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin,
Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi
“Since Farhan was found, troops were given an emphasis on operating carefully even more than usual, because of the understanding that additional hostages might be in the area. We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel said.
Losing Hope
Apparently, their captors heard soldiers nearby and executed the four men and two women they held. All six were shot multiple times at close range. Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, and Eden Yerushalmi were also kidnapped from the Nova festival, and Carmel Gat was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.
The murders were condemned by some in the Muslim world. Palestinian journalist Abd Al-Bari Fayyad, for example, said the “barbaric and inhumane” treatment of the hostages was contrary to the Islamic shari’a and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. Fayyad said, “In the Quran and the Hadith, there are many documented examples of war prisoners being treated humanely by the Prophet’s Companions, in compliance with [the Prophet’s] instructions. For instance, when it came to food, some of the prisoners recounted that the Muslims had served them the best food they could provide, even better than what they [ate] themselves.”
Netanyahu released a recorded statement, “Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal.”
President Biden and Secretary Blinken called the Goldberg-Polins to offer their condolences. “I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in a statement praising the Goldberg-Polins for being “courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable.”
Much of Israel reacted with heartbreak and fury. The chairman of the Histadrut labor union announced a general strike, teachers at schools throughout the country also stayed away from their jobs, Ben-Gurion Airport suspended flights for two hours, and tens of thousands of Israelis marched on September 2. Workers were later ordered back to their jobs after the Supreme Court declared the strike was illegal.
The same day, President Biden was asked if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach an agreement to return the remaining 101 hostages and responded, “No.”
Netanyahu held a press conference and said, “Israel will not let this massacre simply pass on by. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for it.” He also apologized: “I told the families, and I repeat it here tonight — I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them back alive.”
The prime minister also reiterated that Israel would not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor despite pressure to do so for the sake of the hostages. “It simply won’t happen,” he said because it is Hamas’s “pipeline for oxygen and rearmament.”
Biden was “very close” to presenting a final hostage-release proposal. “We’re going to continue to push as hard as we can.”
A day after Netanyahu reiterated that Israel must indefinitely maintain a presence along the Egypt-Gaza border, the White House contradicted him. “The deal itself, including the bridging proposal that we started working with… includes the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas… in phase one… and that includes those areas along and adjacent to that corridor,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. “That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to.”
More pointedly, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. has “made very clear what we believe about the possibility of an ongoing Israeli presence in Gaza — that we [are] opposed to it.”
Focus has been almost exclusively on Netanyahu without much discussion of Hamas’s demands in the negotiation, which include not only withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor but the roughly one-mile buffer zone created near the border to protect the Israeli communities from a repeat of October 7. Hamas also made a new demand to increase the number of Palestinian prisoners, including those with blood on their hands, it wants to be released. While Netanyahu has reportedly expressed some flexibility regarding the size of the Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the buffer zone is non-negotiable.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, one reason Israel is so insistent about keeping troops at the Corridor is that interrogations of a senior Hamas official and documents captured by the IDF indicate Sinwar planned to smuggle himself, other Hamas leaders, and the hostages through the Corridor (where tunnels continue to be found) to Egypt and then to Iran. Israel also doesn’t want to appear to concede the position at the border after the murder of six hostages because it would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and encourage Hamas to kill more hostages to increase the domestic pressure on Netanyahu to fold.
Publicly, U.S. officials continue to say the negotiations are going well, with 90% of the issues resolved. One official told Axios that only two paragraphs of the proposed deal need to be settled—the prisoner exchange and Israeli deployment. Privately, officials have growing doubts that Hamas will accept any deal and will only increase their demands if Israel makes additional compromises. Instead of Israeli concessions, there was more discussion of applying greater pressure on Hamas.
Meanwhile, Hamas continued to use psychological warfare by disseminating videos of hostages. They released videos of four of the six murdered hostages in which they read prepared scripts calling on Israel to stop the war and negotiate their release.
News agencies have often reported contradictory information about the number of hostages. One by AFP on September 2 said 64 hostages remained alive; the Israeli army says 70 others are confirmed dead, of whom 33 bodies are still in Gaza. Only 17 people captured at the Nova festival are believed to be alive; 12 have died, and nine were released. Of the 64 who may still be alive, 57 are Israelis (some have more than one nationality), six are Thai nationals, and one is Nepalese. Of these, 52 are men, 10 are women, and two are children ages one and five (both celebrated birthdays in captivity). Five of the women and six of the men are soldiers.
Among the dead, 35, including 10 soldiers, were killed before they were taken to Gaza. The same number died inside Gaza, three of whom were mistakenly shot by Israeli soldiers.
The 97 hostages were taken on November 7. Hamas also holds two bodies and two other Israelis who were kidnapped in 2015.
Just before the U.S. planned to present a “take it or leave it” proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas introduced into the negotiations what an American official called a “poison pill.” Hamas reportedly demanded that Israel release 100 more life-term murderers in the first phase than had been agreed upon.
Israel hostage envoy Gal Hirsch told Bloomberg, “I’m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him” after the release of all the hostages and agreement to give up control of Gaza. There was no immediate confirmation of the offer from Netanyahu.
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