Hamas is following a “calculated” blueprint in its hostage release to try to discredit the world – and it may not include freeing any Israeli soldiers without a major quid pro quo, a leading expert has said.
The Palestinian terrorist act of freeing an American first mother and daughter last week may have been designed to pressure the Biden administration into urging Israel to delay its planned scorched earth invasion of the Gaza Strip to spend time on the hostage crisis, said former FBI Agent and hostage task force expert Christopher O Leary told The Post on Tuesday.
Hamas’s release of another pair of women, two elderly Israelis, late Monday was also a “very calculated” move — this time to try and show the world that it is a “legitimate negotiator with some kind of humanity,” O’Leary said — though terrorists have brutalized women and children during their bloody invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
After former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was freed on Monday, he revealed that he and some of his captives had been separated from the main group into smaller rooms in Hamas’s notorious “spider web” of Gaza tunnels.
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Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said his Hamas captors were “friendly in their own way.” Reuters
O’Leary said the move was no surprise.
“Hamas is there [probably] targeting victims to different groups: women and children, people with health problems, dual citizens like Americans, Israeli civilians and Israeli soldiers,” he said.
“You don’t want soldiers to mix with civilians. Because soldiers will look for opportunities to go out or gather information, and they will need more security around them,” he said.
Lifschitz – who was beaten during his capture but suffered no visible physical injuries when he was released – said the terrorists were “friendly in their own way” to the hostages he saw, making sure they had proper food and medical care.
“Hamas saw [hostages] as a currency,” explained O’Leary. “Like cattle farmers, they want to make sure their livestock are healthy and awake. And they want to be able to run a transaction at some point.
It is said that there are about 200 Israeli hostages currently being held in the Gaza Strip.REUTERS
“But it’s not for any humanitarian reason,” he said.
Both Lifschitz and her neighbor, 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, were released without their husbands, who remain in custody in Gaza. O’Leary speculated that such civilian hostages “will be allowed to flow out from time to time” to delay the Gaza invasion and restore Hamas’s image.
“They want to be considered a legitimate fighting force under the laws of war,” O’Leary said of the terrorist group. But “if they hold hostages, they violate the rules of war [from the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages].
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“Under the Geneva Convention, taking hostages during war is also considered a violation. It is a war crime,” he said.
But Hamas will not unilaterally release the hostages, who are their most valuable bargaining chip, he said.
Hamas released a video showing terrorists holding children and babies hostage after storming their homes Oct. 7. Hamas is online
“Hamas is arrested one Israeli soldiers hostage from 2006 to 2011 – and [the terrorists] was able to negotiate the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners,” O’Leary said, referring to the prisoner exchange agreement for Israeli Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit.
The controversial decision saw the acquittal of several high-profile convicted terrorists – including several who helped plan and carry out the deadly August 2001 suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem.
Using current IDF prisoners as leverage to free more imprisoned terrorists is part of a larger Hamas goal, O’Leary said.
Judith Raanan (right) and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie were released by Hamas last week.AP
Unfortunately, the number of hostages that Israeli and US authorities believe have been taken may be higher than they say, according to the expert.
“I don’t think Israel’s number [of around 200 hostages] is completely accurate,” he said. “They release what they can confirm, and they won’t confirm someone is a hostage unless they have information to back it up.”
Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper were released Monday night. via REUTERS
O’Leary said Qatar would likely continue to play a central role in future negotiations.
“They do it without their own agenda. They truly believe this is their role to help resolve conflicts [in the region],” he said.
The four freed hostages – Lifshitz and Cooper, as well as Judith and Natalie Raanan – have been given intelligence briefings to share whatever they learned while in captivity.
“They might be able to help shed some light on what’s going on,” O’Leary said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
