Gazans shot these hostages in the head and ran away, because they sensed the IDF was coming to the tunnel.
And yes, the IDF could tell that the hostages had been murdered just a short time earlier.
As we can see, this includes American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli-American citizen.
My thoughts: Now, we cannot know whether the same would have happened even if a deal had been reached. It might have ended up the same for these hostages. Second, we must resist any temptation to dehumanize Hamas or Gazans because “they act like animals.” Despite their behavior, they are fully human and will stand before YHWH one day on Judgement Day; and they have full agency and responsibility for their choices; as do all people worldwide. What they have done is strategic, as a way to psychologically hurt Israelis with emotional pain.
Third, naive statements like “just sign a deal with Hamas already and get it over with” utterly fail to take into account the fact that Hamas has no interest in signing a deal – and it shows in their behavior. Israel has accepted every proposal from the USA and Hamas has rejected it.
Finally, Israel has a red line. Israel absolutely must, in any deal, maintain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza/Egypt border. That’s the way that Hamas will rearm themselves if Egypt still has it.
As I’ve said before, Hamas negotiates as if they think they are winning.
And yet, the voters in Gaza elected Hamas to their government, and at that time, the US President basically said that the world must honor their election because it was a democratic choice. There have been no signs of the US or any other nation making attempts for regime change in Gaza.
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Meanwhile another big story today: An investigation has revealed that the invasion from Gaza into Israel on Oct 7 was not 3,000 Gazans but 6,000. Originally, the estimate was 1,200 Hamas militants and 1,800 Gazan civilians. Today the investigation reports it was more like 3,800 militants (!!) and 2,200 “peaceful Gazan civilians” who crossed over to join in the murder, rape, hostage-taking, or looting. We have already learned that one of the hostages who returned alive several months ago had been taken by Gazan civilians and then sold to Hamas.
Meanwhile – further attacks on Jews today in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli society in mourning:
- First day of school today, and high-school teachers are on strike, because of lowe wages;
- The Labor Union has called for a total shutdown, because of the six hostage bodies found;
- The Government cancelled its weekly noon meeting (each sunday at noon) because of the hostage bodies that were found;
- This morning there were numerous road junction closures as mourners seek to close the country down (yet normal daily work goes on today as far as I can see in my areas); 2024-09-01 Society Update
sources: https://www.timesofisrael.com/bodies-of-6-hostages-murdered-by-hamas-just-days-earlier-found-in-rafah-idf/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/hersh-carmel-alex-eden-or-almog-the-6-hostages-murdered-by-hamas-just-days-ago/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-finds-bodies-in-gaza-that-may-be-of-hostages-identification-process-underway/ IDF Chief of Staff assesses scene of Tarqumiyah Junction terror attack https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-817282 A classic ploy: Iran feigns interest in deal as it edges towards nuclear capability https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-816994