Israel faces the hostage dilemma in Gaza

Mr. Netanyahu called the Hamas video “cruel psychological warfare.”

Hamas is prepared for a long, bloody battle, and its fighters have turned Gaza into a labyrinth of tunnels, filled with weapons and food. Some hostages are hidden in the tunnels, many of which are likely booby-trapped.

After bombarding Gaza and its population with artillery and bombs, the Israeli army entered on Friday. So far, the Israeli army has advanced to the outskirts of Gaza City but has not entered the Hamas stronghold. If they do, heavy urban fighting is expected.

Rob Saale, the former head of the FBI-led Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, said Israel is facing an unprecedented situation.

“There are no easy solutions,” Mr Saale said. “I think the Israelis are following the right course. You can’t let the hostages dictate what you do. Keeping heavy pressure on Hamas is probably the best way to get them back. Hamas is not going to free hostages from a position of strength.”

Lt. Gen. Mark C. Schwartz, a retired special operations commander who previously served as U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said Israel likely has commandos embedded in its advancing ground units so they can act quickly when they receive new commands. intelligence on hostage locations.

Other former senior officers who served combat tours in the Middle East painted a grim picture of efforts to retrieve the hostages — either through negotiations or military rescues — as Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza.

Gen. Richard D. Clarke, a retired head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, said conditions in Gaza — an active war zone, the large number of hostages, scant information about their exact locations and Hamas’s preparations to defend against a Israeli attack – making any hostage operation “extremely challenging.”

“It will be very difficult to get the hostages out,” said Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., a retired head of the U.S. military’s Central Command. “Hamas will try to create dilemmas for the Israelis by placing them near command posts, rocket launch sites and ammunition depots as long as they can.”

The three generals all predicted a protracted battle, possibly lasting months.

“I don’t think Hamas will go bankrupt,” General Schwartz said. “They want to kill Israeli soldiers, and I expect brutal fighting.”

Yair Golan, a former Israeli army deputy chief of staff who helped rescue partygoers at a music festival that was attacked on October 7, said the hostages should be a priority as Israel wages the war against Hamas.