Abbey Onn misplaced her aunt and a tender cousin when Hamas attackers rampaged via Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Now Onn is concerned about what is going to occur to 3 different members of the family taken hostage that day as Israel kilos Gaza City in a bid to finish Hamas’ keep watch over of the Gaza Strip.
She desires the global to understand that Ofer Kalderon and his kids Sahar, 16, and Erez, 12, are stuck in the crossfire.
“As long as they are hostage, we’re all hostage,” Onn says. “And we need them home so that whatever is happening there can be solved. I don’t think it’s a simple solution, but you can’t hold hostages and fight a war at the same time.”
As the Israeli military tightens its grip around Gaza City, friends and family of the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas fear their loved ones will be an afterthought for the politicians and generals directing the campaign. Hamas on Monday released video of the first hostage confirmed to have died in captivity.
With much of northern Gaza flattened and face-to-face battles underway, the question of how to safely free the captives is becoming more urgent. Israel’s twin goals of crushing Hamas and freeing the hostages are about to collide.
HOW TO BALANCE WAGING WAR AND RESCUING HOSTAGES?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of the assault on Gaza is to prevent future attacks on Israel by destroying Hamas and ensuring it can never again govern the territory.
On the other side, Hamas is reluctant to release the hostages because they are useful as human shields and offer leverage in squeezing concessions from Israel, says Justin Crump, a former British Army tank commander and CEO of Sibylline, a London-based strategic advisory firm.
Any rescue operation would be risky because the militants are holding their captives in secret locations, probably underground tunnels, where they can ambush Israeli soldiers and inflict heavy casualties, Crump says.
“The Israelis want the hostages, but it’s not the sole purpose of this operation. And they’re not going to be held hostage by the hostages themselves, if that makes sense..,’’ he says. “They’ve got to focus on their most important objective.”
But with the Israeli military now claiming that Hamas no longer controls Gaza, Israel may soon be willing to negotiate for the return of the hostages, says Nomi Bar-Yaacov, an associate fellow in the international security program at Chatham House, a London-based economic and global affairs think tank.
“I think we’re at a turning moment,’’ she says. “I don’t think Israel will achieve all of their military targets, but it means that that’s achieved a serious chunk of them. And therefore, I think, this is the time when a deal will have to be made, and the sooner the better.”
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, says the bombardment was necessary to crush Hamas and put pressure on the militants to release the hostages. Asked whether the attack on Gaza was putting the hostages at greater risk, Netanyahu said last week that Israel was “taking that into consideration.”
“There’s no one who wants to get our hostages back more than us,” he told ABC News.
Oliver McTernan, who has worked on hostage negation for 20 years, says the families of the hostages are right to be concerned. The only way to achieve the return of the captives, he says, is a cease-fire of enough duration to move them safely across the battlefield. Israel says such a move would simply allow Hamas to rearm.
“I think every day that goes on there is a risk — risk with bombings, risk with incursions and whatever — of the civilians, Israeli civilians, dying in Gaza,” McTernan says. That, he says, “will have to be a concern of any executive: to verify their protection and their go back to their families.”
CONCERN AMONG WAITING FAMILIES
Eilon Keshet is a kind of members of the family. During the assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Hamas kidnapped Keshet’s cousin Yarden Bibas, his spouse, Shiri, son Ariel, 4, and child boy Kfir, who at simply 10 months previous is the youngest hostage.
“I am scared about the war in Gaza, there are explosions, and gunfire everywhere,” he says. “I am afraid my family will get hurt, but I understand that we must act too, to bring them back to us.”
The families of the hostages on Tuesday started a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to focal point consideration on their family members. The march began with a second of silence for Noa Marciano, the 19-year-old hostage whose dying was once introduced Monday.
Hamas says dozens of captives had been killed by means of Israeli moves however hasn’t equipped proof. Israel has brushed aside such claims as mental conflict.
Last week, Rachel Goldberg joined every other demonstration at the Western Wall and Dome of the Rock in japanese Jerusalem — websites sacred to Jews and Muslims — and appealed to global leaders to not disregard the hostages, whilst international consideration shifts to the horror of civilian casualties in Gaza.
Her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was once abducted from the Supernova tune competition on Oct. 7.
“The hostages have been underground in Gaza for 32 days,’’ she said at the rally. “I cry out to every single person here and every single person on the planet to make it your mission to free these souls, 240 souls. They are from 33 different countries, their ages range from 9 months to 85 years old, they are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. They are human beings and they need you.”
But the desperation of the families could also be tinged with hope — hope for peace and that the hostages will in the end be rescued.
“I don’t know one Israeli or one Jew that wishes any citizen or civilian in Gaza right now to go through what they’re going through, not one of us,” Onn mentioned. “We want our families home. That’s our No. 1 priority.”
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Associated Press author Lori Hinnant contributed to this file.
Find extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war