What are they even hoping to get out of keeping the hostages anymore? At this point it looks like Israel is quietly trying to move to acting as though they’re already dead anyways.
hostages one of the few ways Palestinians can actually do anything to improve their lives
Genuine question, how has Hamas taking hundreds of innocent people hostage on October 7th improved the situation in Gaza or Israel in any way? Whose life is better today than it was a couple of months ago as a result?
International humanitarian law prohibits taking and executing hostages. Such acts are considered war crimes (GCI–IV Common Art. 3; GCIV Arts. 34, 147; API Art. 75) and can be tried before any national court, under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
The Convention defines a hostage taker as “any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (‘hostage’) in order to compel a third party, namely a State, an international inter-governmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or to abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage, commits the offence of taking hostages (‘hostage taking’)” (Art. 1 of Hostage Convention).
The Convention further specifies that not only those who commit such an act but also any person who attempts to commit or who participates as an accomplice in such an act or attempt is accountable and must be punished.
At any rate, regardless of whether you feel Hamas' jihad is justified or not (it isn't, in fact), hostage taking is an international war crime. The Geneva Convention is the bare minimum standard on this, and as such our opinions and political leanings are irrelevant.
The bare minimum Hamas can do now is to release the remaining hostages and surrender themselves to the IDF to stand trial, so that the innocent people of Gaza can start slowly putting their lives back together.
Genuine question, how has Hamas taking hundreds of innocent people hostage on October 7th improved the situation in Gaza or Israel in any way? Whose life is better today than it was a couple of months ago as a result?
Nobody's but when the war ends the number of hostages Hamas has will be an important factor in just how fucked Gaza will be.
The bare minimum Hamas can do now is to release the remaining hostages and surrender themselves to the IDF to stand trial, so that the innocent people of Gaza can start slowly putting their lives back together.
Yep, just showed your true colors. In that case Israel should also be surrendering its leadership and soldiers to stand trial in the Hague for genocide (or at the very least collective punishment).
Israel (specifically Netanyahu) has repeatedly stated they want security control of Palestine "from the river to the sea". Nothing good is gonna come out of the Gazan resistance surrendering.
Nobody's but when the war ends the number of hostages Hamas has will be an important factor in just how fucked Gaza will be.
How so, and what's the endgame here? Keep as many innocent civilians hostage in perpetuity?
Here you are admitting that Hamas' actions have benefited literally "nobody" thus far, and at the same time you're suggesting that they keep doing what they're currently doing (something which, as we've already established, is a war crime) because it will "be an important factor" in the future, in some very abstract and vague way?
As the saying goes "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results."
Yep, just showed your true colors.
Not sure what this ad hominem is supposed to suggest, but it's weak either way. 🤷
In that case Israel should also be surrendering its leadership and soldiers to stand trial in the Hague for genocide (or at the very least collective punishment).
No Western country has declared support for South Africa’s allegations against Israel. The U.S., a close Israel ally, has rejected them as unfounded, the U.K. has called them unjustified, and Germany said it “explicitly rejects” them.
China and Russia have said little about one of the most momentous cases to come before an international court. The European Union also hasn’t commented.
So far there doesn't seem to be much of a argument that anything that Israel has done up until now rises to the level of a war crime, while as I shared above, the Geneva Convention is explicit that terrorist hostage-taking of innocent civilians is, on its face, a war crime. If Israel is proven to have done things that are so blatantly war crimes, they should be held accountable for those things. It's the only reasonable position to take, frankly.
As always, if you find yourself arguing against the Geneva Convention you might want to reexamine the ethics and soundness of your position.
Israel (specifically Netanyahu) has repeatedly stated they want security control of Palestine "from the river to the sea".
Hamas have also repeatedly stated, including in their 1988 founding charter, that the goal of their jihad is the complete destruction of Israel and genocide of Jewish people in the Levant.
Neither Netenyahu nor Hamas believe in a peaceful two-state solution in which Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs can live together peacefully. If I had my way they'd both be totally stripped of power.
The hostages are something of value to someone, even if that value is almost nothing to the major players.
And it isn’t like Israel is quietly trying to act as if there aren’t hostages any more, they’ve been acting like it since near the beginning of this war, which I feel caught Hamas by surprise.
I dunno. I quite like Yahoo Serious. I still watch Young Einstein now and again. Where else are you going to watch someone defuse an atomic beer keg with a steam punk electric guitar.
How the last ceasefires went, settlers continued to raid and stole land, food, shelter and belongings, escorted by Israeli military for “security”, and any attempt at resistance Israel could point the finger at “Hamas breaking the ceasefire”. Or they were just shot dead.
Given that Hamas does not operate in the West Bank I’m dubious that what you are describing in a West Bank hypothetical would occur. Illegal settlements in the West Bank are awful and should be stopped by Israel - but they are not directly tied to the current conflict with Hamas.
Right, but I’m saying a peace deal in Gaza should include Israel’s activities in West Bank, because they are needless casualties of Israel’s continued aggression in and around Jenin since July, and only escalated further in retaliation of the October massacre. They aren’t disconnected, even if Hamas doesn’t operate there.
Israel should stop settlements in the West Bank because its the right thing to do. However if I were a Palestinian in Gaza and a peace deal was derailed because Hamas was refusing to agree without West Bank settlement concessions I’d be pretty pissed.
That being said given that Hamas broke the last ceasefire agreement, and their stated goal is to conduct other attacks like Oct 7th, I’m not sure how a ceasefire could be reached even on narrow grounds.
Problem is the IDF response. They’ve already demonstrated a callous disregard for innocent life. So, just stop sending soldiers in, and send tank shells instead.
Explosion possibly caused by RPG attack as IDF prepared structures for demolition using explosives, with nearby tank hit by a missile; death toll in ground op reaches 219
Israel can’t stop till the hostages are back and hamas wants as many Palestinians dead as possible for propaganda. They’ll never return them willingly.
I would be surprised if hostages turn up in Egypt and Iran too to try to expand the war.
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