Israelin edelleen kidnapattuina olevat 28.12.2023

 

Israel says 129 people remain unaccounted for after they were abducted and taken to Gaza during the October 7 attacks by H-s. Of these, Israel says that 22 are believed to be dead. A group representing the families of hostages says that Gadi Haggai, 73, is now believed to have died in Gaza.for 6 dage siden. Google News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67740329

H-s is something of a hybrid case. The atrocities committed in their raid into southern Israel on 7 October were gratuitously cruel and violent. Yet they have subsequently been willing to bargain the release of more than 100 hostages.

Today, Israel's hostage relatives are all too aware that nearly all those already released won their freedom not by daring military action but by painstaking negotiations and mediation by Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States. To date, only one Israeli hostage, Private Ori Megedish, has been rescued by force.

But doing a deal with kidnappers, especially those considered by many governments to be terrorists, can be a bitter pill to swallow. Hostage-takers will demand something in return.

In the case of H-s, that has meant releasing large numbers of prisoners from Israeli jails, pausing the fighting and significantly increasing the amount of aid getting into Gaza.

Yet any further successful return of the hostages, says Gen Herbert, can only come about through diplomatic means: "There is no effective military solution to this issue in Gaza."