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Hostage Deal Shows Hamas' Desperation

(Times of Israel) Haviv Rettig Gur - Many of the terrorists released in the Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011 were the ones who planned and executed the Oct. 7 massacre. Hamas abducted too many, including babies and ailing grandmothers, and did so in such cruel ways that the old logic of prisoner exchanges has been forever upended in the Israeli psyche. There's a tipping point to extortion, when the victim's incentives flip from payment to vengeful defiance. When Israel telegraphed for three long weeks that it was preparing to enter Shifa Hospital, it was giving the enemy time to escape. It didn't want a bloody battle in the hallways of a hospital. But it did want to enter that hospital and show Hamas there are no safe places anywhere in Gaza. Israel is sending a message to Hamas, and this message is the strategic heart of the war effort: There is nowhere in Gaza we won't go, no stone or tunnel or building we won't overturn in pursuit of you. None of the tactics that once kept you safe apply anymore. Tens of thousands of Hamas fighters have now been underground for nearly seven weeks. They were prepared for an Israeli incursion, but not an open-ended one. Meanwhile, the IDF has systematically destroyed and sealed hundreds of tunnel entrances, seeking to bury Hamas forces alive in their own tunnels. For six hours each day of the truce, Israel must ground its reconnaissance drones. It may be that Hamas, with many fighters trapped in the steadily tightening IDF noose around Gaza City, has negotiated a last-ditch means for saving its northern forces by giving them a brief window to flee south while the Israelis agree not to watch their escape too closely. Israeli officials are optimistic that Hamas will ultimately carry out its part of the deal since Hamas needs the time.
2023-11-24 00:00:00
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