An assessment has placed the number of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas at over 150.
The majority of the hostages were seized by the terror group in the opening hours of its Saturday surprise attack against Israel. The 150 figure was given by a senior Israeli official to the New York Times. Officials from the United States and other Western countries are still investigating whether any of their citizens are among the hostages.
ISRAEL ORDERS 'TOTAL SIEGE' OF GAZA IN AFTERMATH OF UNPRECEDENTED TERROR ATTACK BY HAMAS
On its Telegram channel, Hamas claimed that it had “dozens of hostages” in “safe places and the tunnels of the resistance,” referring to its extensive network of tunnels under Gaza.
Muhammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, cited thousands of Hamas militants in Israeli custody as part of the reasoning for the attack and taking of hostages. While Israel is no stranger to facing hostage situations, the current crisis is unprecedented.
“This is unprecedented. We’ve never had so many people taken and held in a hostile territory,” Gershon Baskin, Israel’s back-channel negotiator in a previous hostage situation, told the Washington Post. “It’s a new reality, and it’s difficult to measure how society will respond to this.”
Hundreds of family members of those captured have pressed the government for a response, resulting in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointing Gal Hirsch, a reservist brigadier general, to spearhead efforts to rescue the hostages.
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The holding of hostages in Gaza may be an effort by Hamas to deter widespread bombardment. The group claimed that four hostages were killed in an Israeli bombardment on Monday, the New York Times reported. In other cases, hostages appear to have been executed shortly after being captured, videos posted on Telegram show, according to the Washington Post.
The keeping of hostages may also be an attempt to force a ground invasion of Gaza, where Hamas will have an easier time fighting Israeli troops.