Posted on 03/05/2024 8:26:25 AM PST by SJackson
Hamas official Basem Naim said on Monday to AFP that the terror group did not know which of the hostages were dead or alive.
Basem also added that the hostages were held by many terror groups in different locations in the Gaza Strip.
According to Basem, a ceasefire is necessary for Hamas to ascertain how many and which hostages it is still holding.
The same Hamas official, in an interview with the BBC, said that the hostages "are in different areas with different groups" and Hamas "have asked for a ceasefire to collect that data [on which hostages are alive and where.]"
Continuing the BBC interview, Naim asserted that information relating to the hostages was "valuable" and could not be given "for free."
Information on hostages being withheld Hamas, in an unsubstantiated statement on Friday, announced that seven hostages had been killed but announced the names of only three.
Gershon Peri, 79, Yoram Itak Metzger, 80, and Amiram Israel Cooper, 85, were announced as dead on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Hamas released a video where they proposed three scenarios regarding the fates of the hostages. In the first, all had been killed, in the second some had been killed and others wounded, and in the third, all were still alive.
All three men, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, had also appeared in a video released by Hamas in December.
The information provided by Hamas is unconfirmed, and Hamas has previously shared false information on the well-being of hostages as part of its use of psychological warfare. Hamas has previously named a hostage as killed only to release them later, as was the case of Hannah Katzir.
A Baghdad Bob figure, as recently as late October he contended Hamas killed no civilians, isn't particularly credible but probably on to something here. Hostages are valuable, which is why they take them.
Hamas is lying.
“... the terror group did not know which of the hostages were dead or alive.”
We don’t know = We don’t care = You’re next.
If they still have 100, none are in good shape. They really do not have anything to negotiate with now.
Taking hostages is a war crime.
Hunt them down and kill every last one of these savages and their combined families.
L
Time for the IDF to assume the hostages are dead. Restart the sweep south to Egypt and exterminate every Hama$$ fighter or supporter found.
How about:
one hostage freed -> no aerial bombing for 24 hours
There also should be an incentive to release more than one a day. Perhaps a 12-hour bonus for every one after the first on any day.
Release 4 hostages on Wednesday = 4 days + 36 hours no aerial bombing
Under my proposal, most Gazans would have a personal incentive to free hostages and Israel might be able to wait patiently. Also, Israel would not have to release terrorists so they can get a chance to kill again.
“Basem also added that the hostages were held by many terror groups in different locations in the Gaza Strip.”
That is almost certainly true.
That’s why trying to make a formal deal with HAMAS is futile.
Under my bombing halt plan, HAMAS would only need to find at least one per day on a running average.
Most likely dead. IDF: time to go full bore.
The hostages are dead. If they weren’t dead we would see videos of them begging for Bibi to do what it took to get them back.
Gazan “para’s” went into Israel on Oct. 7 and acted on their own, in the barabaric free for all.
THOSE guys have hostages they haven’t even claimed yet. Bank on it!
Probably some are dead already or others kept for ‘special’ treatment...to be killed later.
The hostages have been turned into sex slaves and the abuse is current and ongoing.
Maybe a few bombs dropped nearby would jog his memory.
WIKI
The envoys asked under what terms the siege could be lifted, and Alaric demanded all the gold and silver, household goods, and barbarian slaves in the city. One envoy asked what would be left to the citizens of Rome. Alaric replied, “Their lives.”
Ultimately, the city was forced to give the Goths 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 silken tunics, 3,000 hides dyed scarlet, and 3,000 pounds of pepper in exchange for lifting the siege.
To raise the needed money, Roman senators were to contribute according to their means. This led to corruption and abuse, and the sum came up short. The Romans then stripped down and melted pagan statues and shrines to make up the difference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(410)
Israel is using the liberation of the hostages as one of the prime justifications for pressing the war and vows to aggressively wage war in Gaza looking for them until they are all found and liberated.
Which will not happen any time soon because Hamas no longer has operational control of the hostages and it's command and control structure is so degraded, it has lost knowledge of where many of them are being held and who is holding them - or if they are even alive at all.
As soon as Israel is finished with Hamas and Hamas is no position to retaliate, they can offer the people actually holding the hostages a separate amnesty deal to release them.
Frankly, the IDF probably has a better intelligence on where many of the hostages are are than Hamas.
From a practical standpoint, Hamas is exempt from war crime accusations. Whether because they’re a treasured leftist terror group, or their victims are Jews, or both I don’t know.
And the US calls for a ceasefire or truce and drops supplies to these animals? Every single member of HAMAS should be hunted down and killed.
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