by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute
Palestinians are again paying a heavy price as a result of Hamas’s refusal to release the remaining 59 Israeli hostages (almost half of whom are believed to be dead) held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. On that day, thousands of Hamas terrorists and ordinary Palestinians invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and wounding thousands others. Another 251 Israelis – alive and dead – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Hamas could have avoided much of the death and destruction it brought on the Palestinians by simply releasing all the hostages, laying down its weapons and relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, however, chose to drag the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip into a war that has claimed the lives of thousands and destroyed large parts of the coastal strip.
The US-brokered ceasefire-hostage deal, announced in January, provided Hamas with an opportunity to release all the hostages and end the war with Israel. Instead, Hamas chose to humiliate the hostages (and all Israelis) by publicly parading them while handing them over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
During the disturbing displays, masked gunmen in military uniform from Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups reappeared on the streets for the first time since the beginning of the war. During the war, some of the terrorists, pretending to be innocent civilians, got rid of their military uniforms and hid their weapons, and many found shelter among displaced families in humanitarian zones throughout the Gaza Strip. Others spent most of the time hiding in tunnels, where many of the Israeli hostages were (and still are) held.
The ceasefire-hostage deal collapsed on March 18 because Hamas is evidently not prepared to release all the hostages, disarm and cede control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas considers the hostages an asset and “insurance policy” for holding onto power.
Hamas says that it wants a commitment from Israel that it will end the war while allowing the terror group to remain in control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas also said it wants guarantees from international parties, including the US, that Israel would abide by such a commitment. Hamas, in other words, is saying that it wants to retain control of the Gaza Strip so that it can use the territory to launch more terrorist attacks against Israel in the future. Its leaders have already threatened to carry out more massacres against Israelis.