Hamas Threatens to Kill All the Remaining Hostages Unless Israel Bows to Its Demands
Abu Obeida, the masked spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, threatened on Sunday to kill all the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attacks unless Israel cedes to demands for more aid and prisoner exchanges.
Speaking on a recorded broadcast reviewed by the Times of Israel, Obeida called Israel "fascist" and "arrogant":
Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance.
Despite the fact that Israel Defense Forces is rapidly gaining ground in Gaza and large numbers of Hamas fighters have been surrendering, the terror leader vowed to continue the fight:
"We have no choice but to fight this barbaric occupier in every neighbourhood, street and alley," he said.
"The enemy's holocaust aims to break the strength of our resistance... but we are fighting on our land in a holy battle."
To give you a feel for what this guy's like, here's video of him trying to troll the IDF by claiming they wear diapers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a different assessment of the status of the war than Obeida, saying Sunday that the conflict will not end well for Hamas:
“I say to the Hamas terrorists: It’s over,” Netanyahu said. “Don’t die for [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar. Surrender – now!”
Hostage-taking is evil and defies international law. Unfortunately, however, it’s also a very effective tool against civilized people and allows vastly outnumbered forces to have negotiating power that they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Hamas is even using the bodies of captives who died as a sick negotiating tactic. They have 20 corpses that they are refusing to return to Israel.
Sinwar is well aware of the emotional power of hostages, and taking them was always part of the plan:
Sinwar said that what Israel considers its strength—that most Israelis serve in the army and soldiers hold a special status in society—is a weakness that can be exploited, said Yuval Bitton, who spent time with Sinwar as the former head of the Israel Prison Service’s intelligence division.
The idea proved accurate in 2011 when Sinwar was one of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners freed for a single Israeli soldier.
Now, Sinwar is holding hostage 138 Israelis, including soldiers, and the Hamas leader is betting he can force the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and establish a permanent cease-fire. He’s relying on his judgment of Israeli society after two decades studying it in jail, learning Hebrew, watching the local news and getting inside the Israeli psyche.
Hamas knows that most people who aren't terrorists care deeply about their families and are sickened when a loved one is taken captive and will do almost anything to get them freed. It's psychological warfare, and while it may buy them some time in this conflict, it won't win the war. But it's creating agony among the families.
Author Alex Berenson points out that pro-Hamas supporters will ignore the group's cruelty:
As protesters take to the streets to applaud Hamas' inhumanity and call for a ceasefire, they keep ignoring an essential fact: a ceasefire could be negotiated very quickly if they would release the hostages and put down their arms. Instead, they want to continue to torture their captives and create more carnage in a war they started and stand little chance of winning.
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