Israeli Officials Revise Hostage Estimate Upward
After previously signaling that 203 individuals were believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas terrorists following an attack on Israel earlier this month, Israeli Defense Forces Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed this week that the number had grown.
The IDF spokesperson reported that the families of 212 suspected hostages being held in Gaza had been notified, a total that did not include two Americans — Judith and Natalie Raanan — who were released last week.
While Hamas issued a statement asserting it offered to release two Israeli women “for compelling humanitarian reasons and without anything in exchange,” Israel dismissed the terrorist group’s claim as “propaganda.”
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel “will continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people.”
As for the reason the American mother and daughter were released, a top Netanyahu aide said that “pressure put on Hamas and their sponsors” proved to be the driving factor.
“Trying to portray themselves as humane through this is an insult to everyone’s intelligence,” declared Ophir Falk. “The pressure is going to intensify until all the hostages are freed, and nothing will change our goal of dismantling Hamas.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration appears to be imploring Israel to delay a ground invasion into Gaza until hostages — including 10 Americans who have not been accounted for — are freed.
Although President Joe Biden responded affirmatively to a reporter’s question regarding whether Israel “will delay the ground invasion until [he] can pull the hostages out,” the White House subsequently attempted to clean up the remark.
“The president was far away,” asserted White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt. “He didn’t hear the full question. The questions sounded like: ‘Would you like to see more hostages released? He wasn’t commenting on anything else.”
The president has addressed the hostage crisis in Gaza, claiming that his administration has “been working around-the-clock to free American citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held.”
An organization formed to represent Israeli hostages, however, denounced the Biden administration’s promise of assistance to residents of Gaza without securing the release of those being held by Hamas.
“The decision to allow humanitarian aid to the murderers of Gaza has caused great anger among the family members,” Bring Them Home Now asserted in a recent statement.
