Israeli hostages complicate plan for 'mighty vengeance' against Hamas
Benjamin Netanyahu's options for hitting Hamas over its deadly incursion into Israel could be reined in by concern for the many Israelis seized in the raid, as a nation scarred by past hostage crises faces perhaps its worst one yet.
In a dramatic assault launched from Gaza on Saturday, the Palestinian group Hamas stormed into Israeli towns, killing more than 600 Israelis and escaping with dozens of hostages, in the deadliest day for Israel since the 1973 war.
Netanyahu has vowed «mighty vengeance» but the fate of the Israeli soldiers, elderly people, women and children taken into Gaza — the numbers are still unclear — complicates how Israel delivers on its promise to hit back hard and fast, while sticking to a longstanding principle of leaving no one behind.
Israelis are reeling from the assault and from images of fellow citizens being bundled off to Gaza.
«There is no chance she will come back,» sobbed a young Israeli girl, talking about her sister who was killed in the attack, while she and her parents were held hostage. She was shown in a video posted on the social media platform X by senior Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, Ambassador David Saranga.
In 2011, Israel swapped hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to win the release of one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held for five years.
That kind of exchange — which even at the time was criticised by some Israelis as too lopsided — looks an impossible bargain when dozens of people may be held this time.
More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's response, as warplanes hit sites across Gaza. It was typical of Israel's immediate retaliation when faced with an escalation.
