How do Israel and the US get information about the hostages held in Gaza?
In a discussion about an article concerning the hostages held by Hamas, I saw a comment by someone who wondered how Israel or the US knows what it knows about the hostages.
I’ve certainly wondered that myself. There are different kinds of “knowing,” as well – knowing who has been kidnapped, knowing who is still alive, knowing where hostages are being kept, knowing how they are being guarded, and knowing what would be needed to get them out.
Here are some possible sources of information that I’ve come up with; those of you with more military background than I (which is just about anyone with military background) probably have more ideas:
(1) There are almost certainly moles in Gaza among Hamas. Whether their motive is that they are being paid, or whether it is ideological, they exist.
(2) Four hostages were released and one was rescued; they may know something and have been debriefed about it.
(3) It takes a while to go through all the Hamas terrorist videos, including those from dead terrorists, as well as Israeli security cameras and videos taken by other Israelis. There may be information there that is still being processed – certainly information about who was abducted.
(4) There may have been witnesses to the abductions who just came forward or were questioned fairly recently.
(5) There are many captured living Hamas terrorists, and they are being interrogated.
(6) Ditto captured terrorist papers and plans, as the Israelis explore tunnels and building within Gaza itself.
(7) I have no idea what the details may be, but I have a hunch there is technology, both known and unknown, that will help in hostage location efforts. Here’s some vague information:
“In support of hostage recovery efforts, the U.S. is conducting unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, as well as providing advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts,” [Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder] said. “These UAV flights began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.”
It’s not clear how helpful the imagery gathered by the overhead flights in Gaza will be in locating hostages, since they are widely believed to be held in the vast network of underground tunnels, some former intelligence officials said. Of the 240 hostages still held by Hamas, 10 of them are believed to be Americans.
US officials insisted that the intelligence gathered by the drones and shared with Israel is limited to hostage recovery efforts and is not so-called “targeting intelligence” — information used to conduct lethal strikes against Hamas leaders and positions.
US special operations personnel inside Israel have also been advising the Israel Defense Forces on hostage recovery efforts, as the US separately has been providing bombs and other lethal aid.
I thought there were more than ten US hostages.
I will add that Israel must walk a fine line to help keep the hostages alive. For example, it wouldn’t do to categorically say that they will never agree to a prisoner exchange. If Hamas believed that, the value of the hostages would fall to zero and they would probably all be killed or worse. What’s more, I have no doubt that Hamas would say that Israel had killed them in raids on tunnels.
Re point 7: I often wonder what kind of technology may be being used that the greater public is just not yet aware of. We generally know about drones and how they’re used, but it’s possible that there may be other ground based devices and robots that could be used to inflitrate, surveil, and even map out Hamas’s vast tunnel network. After all, Israel is one of the most technolically advanced nations on Earth and they’ve had a long time to ruminate on how to deal with the Hamas tunnel problem. There’s certainly no shortage of stuff online speculating about robots and tunnels and warfare. Some of it seems quite fanciful, like Robot Eels.
Sadly Israel has released hundreds of Hama terrorists to get back one hostage. This is a losing proposition but I have no solution.
Mike K:
I don’t think they’ll be doing that this time. A lot of the terrorists Israel released back then were instrumental in October 7th.
Netanyahu keeps saying that there will be no ceasefire until all the hostages are released, so they are holding out hope. I shudder to think what those people are going through and what their ends will be, but it doesn’t seem that Israel has any good options as far as they are concerned.
Yes, I would imagine that there are things that we and the Israelis have that help. Simple things like seismic sensors, infrared, ground penetrating radar and others.
Saw this story at a couple of outlets yesterday. It looks to me as if Hamas wants to use the hostages to “buy” pauses a couple of days at a time, to give them a chance to re-arm, move assets, and “liberate” whatever humanitarian aid comes in.
It’s hard for the Israeli government to turn that down, and families will understandably pressure them. However, carried to the limit, Hamas could end up with a non-continuous cease fire totaling nearly a year.
Sure glad I am not making these decisions.
Note that Israel is already observing daily pauses for civilian evacuation.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/11/09/israel-hamas-negotiations-release-hostages-brazil-hezbollah/
A lot of the terrorists Israel released back then were instrumental in October 7th.
–neo
I recall this from one of the Caroline Glick videos neo linked earlier. I was horrified. Here’s he same information in text:
___________________________________
The current situation brings up memories of past Israeli negotiations with terrorists. The most famous was the deal for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas terrorists seized Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006, and killed two other members of his tank crew. On Oct. 18, 2011, the IDF freed 477 Hamas terrorists and later 550 more Fatah terrorists in exchange for Shalit: a total of 1,027 terrorists for one Israeli soldier.
In a huge festive rally held for the freed terrorists, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh celebrated the victory, declaring it “a historic achievement” and a “strategic turning point in the struggle against the Zionist enemy.”
Of the Hamas terrorists released, 163 were expelled to the Gaza Strip. It is more than likely that many of the terrorists who took part in the Simchat Torah massacre of more than 1,300 Israelis were released by Israel in the Shalit deal. That is, in freeing Shalit, Israel likely contributed to the deaths of hundreds more Israelis.
https://www.jns.org/knowing-the-cost-will-israel-again-negotiate-with-terrorists/
___________________________________
Glick seemed to have more specific information, but I couldn’t google it easily. It seems Google doesn’t work well for my searches anymore.
Here’s the story of an elderly peace activist, Vivian Silver, who worked for much of her life towards peace between Israelis and Arabs.
__________________________________
At seventy-four years old, Silver—who was abducted by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7—is no ordinary grandmother; she is a titan of the peace movement. The international media has profiled Silver extensively. Throughout her life, Silver has worked as a tireless champion for Arabs, spending decades supporting and building friendships with her Bedouin and Gazan neighbors. She founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation in the 1990s to promote a shared society.
In the years before Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, she traveled regularly to the Gaza Strip to support women. Later, she became active in Road to Recovery—an organization founded by the family of another victim of a Hamas attack—where she drove Palestinians in her car to receive medical treatment in Israel.
…,
Now, Silver is among the hundreds of victims torn from their homes by Hamas and held hostage in the Gaza Strip. It is still unclear whether she is among the living or dead.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/peace-activist-vivian-silver-hamas-hostage-israel/
__________________________________
Prayers.
@ huxley – I wonder if the Hamas terrorists holding her knows who Silver is?
The bosses in Qatar probably do, but would they care?
As you say – prayers for all the hostages, and those who have lost loved ones.
One thing that is often overlooked is that some estimates are that about half the hostages taken have non-Israeli citizenship. While many of those might very well be dual citizenship, meaning Israeli and another country, there are many who weren’t Israelis at all.
I’ve seen a couple of reports about the Thai migrant workers that give estimates of a low of 25, while other reports say the Thais are over 50.
In my opinion, just like 9-11, this was not just an attack on one country it was an attack on civilized societies themselves.
It truly is no time to NOT support “the right side of history” meaning support Israel in its determination to eradicate Hamas and other such evils. (I know, I know, stating that here is stating the obvious to those who “get it” – I just want to scream it at all those “protesters” marching in support of Hamas and against Israel. It doesn’t seem to register with them that yelling “for humanitarian reasons ceasefire!” is meaningless if they don’t yell “for humanitarian reason release the hostages!”)
Taking hostages from multiple countries increases the pressure on Israel to cut a deal. If the hostages were exclusively Israeli, then the only pressure for safe hostage release would be coming from the Israeli population. But each outside country that has had its citizens taken hostage is going to be pressuring Israel to find a way to get its people back safely.
AesopFan – “Note that Israel is already observing daily pauses for civilian evacuation.”
I’ve heard that Israel is basically using this as a way to escort the civilians out of the warzone in the north of Gaza. Israel has already advised the locals to move south. But Hamas hasn’t been permitting it because it wants dead Gazans to push up the civilian death toll. So now Israel has announced a short cease-fire every day (which puts diplomatic points in Israel’s column), and simultaneously escorting any and all civilians who want to go south to where there’s no fighting taking place. Based on what I’ve heard, this is driving Hamas nuts because the Israelis are helping the human shields to escape. So it appears to be a win/win for Israel.