Home » How do Israel and the US get information about the hostages held in Gaza?

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How do Israel and the US get information about the hostages held in Gaza? — 11 Comments

  1. 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.

  2. Sadly Israel has released hundreds of Hama terrorists to get back one hostage. This is a losing proposition but I have no solution.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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/

    Working through intermediaries, Israeli officials and Hamas militants are negotiating the possible release of some hostages in exchange for a short pause in fighting. According to top diplomats familiar with the talks who spoke to the New York Times, the Islamist group may release as many as 15 people it captured on Oct. 7, including some Americans, if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) halt strikes on Gaza for three days. Already, the IDF has agreed to allow daily four-hour humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza to allow civilians to evacuate south, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed on Thursday.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday that there will be “no cease-fire without the release of our hostages” but did not walk back comments on Monday that Israel would consider “tactical little pauses.”

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. @ 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.

  10. 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!”)

  11. 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.

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