While driving in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin in late June, eight months after being freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip, former hostage Rom Braslavski received a phone call from a military officer. “We wanted to update you that Abu Yousef, Talal Abd al-Aal, was eliminated,” the officer said to Braslavski, referring to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander who held and abused him during his two years in captivity by the terror group. “You can’t be serious,” Braslavski replied. “I’m very serious. You have no idea how happy I am, how excited I am, for you,” the...