Special units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rescued a number of hostages earlier this month near central Gaza’s Nuseirat. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that some locals in Gaza said Hamas terrorists should have hidden the hostages in tunnels, instead of above ground. Some others said such hostages should be returned to Israel as part of a deal to end the war, while still others said they thought Hamas should give them a map detailing safe-zone areas where no hostages are being kept—so that Gazans can avoid the rescue operations of the special IDF units.
According to Ruthie Blum, a former adviser at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a senior contributing editor at Jewish News Syndicate, this shows that at least some Gazan civilians are complicit in the hostage-taking, as they are calling for hostages to be used as pawns—instead of notifying Israeli authorities of their whereabouts so they can be rescued.
