Hamas is pursuing a diabolically “calculated” plan in its hostage release to try to curry global favor, and it probably does not include the release of any Israeli soldiers without a major quid pro quo, a leading expert says.
The Palestinian terrorists’ move to first free an American mother and daughter last week was likely designed to pressure the Biden administration to urge Israel to delay its planned scorched-earth ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to buy time. in the hostage crisis, former FBI agent and hostage team expert Christopher O’Leary told the Post on Tuesday.
Hamas’s release of another pair of women, two elderly Israelis, on Monday night was also a “very calculated” move, this time to try to show the world that it is “a legitimate negotiator with some kind of humanitarian bent.” ”O’Leary said. he said, even though terrorists brutalized women and children during their bloody invasion of Israel on October 7.
After former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was freed on Monday, she revealed that she and some of her fellow captives were separated from the main group in a smaller room in Hamas’s infamous “spider web” of Gaza tunnels. .
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Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said his Hamas captors were “friendly in their own way.”
O’Leary said the move was not surprising.
“Hamas has [probably] “We divided the victims into different groups: women and children, people with medical problems, people with dual nationality as Americans, Israeli civilians and Israeli military personnel,” he said.
“We don’t want soldiers to mix with civilians. Because the soldiers are going to be looking for an opportunity to escape or gather information, and they are going to need more security,” he said.
Lifschitz, who was beaten during capture but had no visible physical injuries when she was released, said the terrorists were “friendly in their own way” to the hostages she saw, making sure they had food and adequate medical care.
“Hamas looks [hostages] as currency,” O’Leary explained. “Like a rancher, they want to keep their herd healthy and well cared for. And they want to be able to make a transaction at some point.
There are reportedly around 200 Israeli hostages currently being held in the Gaza Strip.REUTERS
“But it’s not for any humanitarian reason,” he said.
Both Lifschitz and her neighbor, Nurit Cooper, 79, were released without their husbands, who remain captive in Gaza. O’Leary speculated that those civilian hostages “will be allowed to escape over time” to delay the invasion of Gaza and rehabilitate Hamas’s image.
“They want to be considered a legitimate fighting force under the laws of war,” O’Leary said of the terrorist group. But “if they have hostages, they are violating the rules of war.” [from the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages].
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“Under the Geneva Convention, taking hostages during war is also considered a violation. “It is a war crime,” he stated.
But Hamas will not unilaterally release the hostage soldiers, who are its most valuable bargaining chip, he said.
Hamas released a video showing terrorists holding young children and babies hostage after invading their home on October 7. Hamas online
“Hamas maintained one Israeli soldier held hostage from 2006 to 2011 – and [the terrorists] We were able to negotiate the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners,” O’Leary said, referring to the prisoner exchange deal for Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
The controversial decision saw the release of several high-profile convicted terrorists, including several people who helped plan and execute the deadly August 2001 suicide bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem.
Using current IDF captives as leverage for the release of more imprisoned terrorists is part of Hamas’s broader goal, O’Leary said.
Judith Raanan (right) and her daughter Natalie, 17, were freed by Hamas last week.AP
Unfortunately, the number of hostages that Israeli and American authorities believe have been taken is probably higher than they have said, according to the expert.
“I don’t think the Israeli figure [of around 200 hostages] “It’s completely accurate,” he said. “They are publishing what they can confirm and they are not going to confirm that someone is a hostage unless they have corroborating information.”
Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper were released on Monday night via REUTERS
O’Leary said Qatar would likely continue to play an important role in future negotiations.
“They are doing it without any agenda of their own. They truly believe that this is their role to help resolve conflicts. [in the region],” he said.
The four freed hostages (Lifshitz and Cooper, as well as Judith and Natalie Raanan) have received intelligence briefings to share everything they learned during captivity.
“They can possibly help clarify what’s going on,” O’Leary said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn