Israeli TV spends a lot of time on the hostage situation. They interview released victims. They interview family members. And they talk with “experts” about a possible new round of hostage exchange. What they don’t do is pay much attention to what Hamas is saying (not that everything they say should be listened to). Hamas has been consistent since the end of the initial exchange. Hostages will be discussed AFTER a full cease-fire. Of course, having a cease-fire means Hamas will survive and stay in power. That’s a major defeat for Israel.
The UN Security Council is still struggling to find the formula that will get the US to support a new cease-fire resolution. What they do not seem willing to try is anything that condemns Hamas. You could even speculate that they are avoiding condemnation of Hamas in order to give Israel more time to eliminate the terrorists, but that’s not a very likely reason.
In a Wednesday interview US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had this to say. “What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying – demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim,”
Wouldn’t it be nice if other countries expressed the same sentiment?
Meanwhile, the IDF continues a slow and methodical search for tunnels, weapons, and hostages in Gaza. I don’t trust the Gaza Medical Authorities statistics, especially with regard to how many are civilians, women, and children.
I believe that Hamas had more than 40,000 men in the ranks of the military wing, The Izzeddin Al-Qassam brigades, in October. It seems likely that about a third of them have been killed. IDF dead number under 400. I apologize if that sounds a bit callous, because every dead soldier is truly a tragedy to his or her family, and to all Israel.
Wetherhorn 