I am a little confused as to why Israel does not have the hostages yet. My understanding was that Israel has essentially taken control of Gaza and decimated the Hamas leadership. Who are they even "negotiating" with to secure their release? Why can't the IDF just kidnap and waterboard that person to get the location of the remaining prisoners? Does the person with the authority to make a deal also not know? Are there clandestine cells of Hamas personnel hiding in a basement somewhere waiting for some "signal" from a third party to give up the Israelis?
I have my own theories about the intentions which I do not feel comfortable discussing, so I'll focus on the practicalities and case studies which show why this complex and difficult to execute: some hostages have been killed by the IDF during rescue operations, this isn't uncommon, the lone hostage was killed during a French raid in Somalia, consider the Lindt Cafe Siege in Sydney where a pregnant hostage was killed by ricocheting police bullet fire when they finally stormed in, three other hostages and a policeman were injured. This was a lone gunman, I c... (read more)