Hamas has taken around 150 Israelis hostage since Saturday’s attack, according to Israel’s UN ambassador. Hamas has told news that the main goal of the attack is to get Palestinian prisoners released. Dag Henrik Tuastad, senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at UiO, has doubts whether the hostage tactic will work for Hamas this time. Although taking Israeli hostages has previously been seen as an asset, he believes Saturday’s attack changes the situation. – What we are seeing now is a massacre. Were the killings of civilians also part of the plan? It is without a doubt a war crime, he says. Dag Henrik Tuastad, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oslo. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news – Therefore, we cannot look at the hostage situation on our own, because the whole here is new. Barter In the past, Hamas has managed to get Palestinian prisoners freed, for example by taking Israeli hostages. In 2011, Israeli Gilad Shalit was released after five years of captivity. It was a heartwarming reunion with his father Noam. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also turned up to welcome Shalit home. Shalit was clearly taken when he landed at Tel Nof airport. He nevertheless paid tribute to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The 19-year-old was serving his military service when he was captured right at the border with Gaza. Shalit was finally released in 2011, following a deal that saw Israel release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. – I hope this agreement will lead to peace between Palestinians and Israelis and that it will support cooperation between both sides, he told Egyptian television the same day he was released, according to Haaretz. Leverages core value Historically, Israel has gone to great lengths to free abducted Israelis. Some of the missing whose families have posted photos. It is uncertain whether any of these have been abducted. Photo: Twitter/X They also tried that with Gilad Shalit. A few days after his abduction, Israel launched an unsuccessful military operation to free him. – In the Israeli state, it is a core value to bring home an Israeli who has been kidnapped, says Eirik Skare, Middle East researcher at the University of Oslo. He points to precisely the story of Gilad Shalit as an example of that. Therefore, he is not surprised that Hamas has once again captured Israelis. Skare believes it is a diplomatic chess move by Hamas to keep the hostages alive. The researcher believes there is a danger that the hostages will be used as human shields, if Israel enters Gaza with ground forces. – Hamas has spread its hostages across the Gaza Strip, so I assume that is part of the tactic, he says. Israeli woman is taken hostage by Hamas. Strategic blemish Dag Henrik Tuastad, on the other hand, believes that Hamas has now stepped on a strategic blemish. He says that Hamas has previously tried to be seen as a political actor, and to be removed from the terrorist list, but that the chance of that happening now is minimal. – Holding Israeli military prisoners and wanting to exchange them with your own is not something that leads to a terrorist label. But carrying out a mass murder does. Tuastad therefore questions what Hamas wants to achieve, and whether it extends further than a prisoner exchange. – Perhaps radical forces in Hamas want a “violent” of the conflict, and to spread it to Lebanon and the West Bank, speculates the Middle East expert.
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Think the hostage tactics of Hamas may fail – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
