Hamas turns hostage releases into humiliating spectacle for Israel
Increasingly theatrical and threatening events have angered Israel and put a ceasefire deal at risk.
Hamas wants to send the world the message that it is still in charge in the Gaza Strip. Its method: turning the release of hostages into a spectacle that Israel is powerless to stop.
The pattern began about two weeks ago, when the first Israeli hostages were released under a ceasefire agreement that includes the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Crowds of jeering men crowded around the Hamas trucks carrying the Israeli hostages. When the women got out, they ran to Red Cross officials waiting in nearby vehicles to take them home.
On Thursday, the militants upped the ante. They released two civilian hostages – a 29-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man – in front of the rubble of the home of Yahya Sinwar, the now-dead mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre in 2023.
This time, the hostages struggled to exit Hamas vehicles as crowds again turned out to greet them, cellphones out aiming for shots of the captives. The Red Cross vehicles weren’t nearby this time, forcing the hostages to wade through throngs of people seemingly on the cusp of attacking them. The hostages’ only protection was their armed captors, members of a US-designated terrorist group.
Hamas is making each round of hostage releases in Gaza an increasingly elaborate event, showcasing their strength and humiliating their enemy – but also threatening to derail the fragile ceasefire in the strip, regional analysts said.
“Hamas is trying to make the release of the hostages look like a show,” said Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of research for Israel’s military intelligence, adding that the move would backfire on Hamas. “Everyone is looking at the disrespectful way they treat the hostages.”
Israel reacted furiously to the display. It said it wouldn’t release the 110 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be set free as part of the deal. Mediators, including US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, scrambled to hold the deal together. Israel eventually released the prisoners.
“I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I demand that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages.”
Israelis at a makeshift plaza known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv reacted with shock as they watched on a big screen as the Palestinian crowd yelled at the hostages. By contrast, shouts of joy rang from the square at the images of captives on their way to freedom.
“Our hearts were gripped with fear,” said a statement by the Hostage Family Forum, a group of family members with hostages in Gaza.
Hamas gamed the protocol on hostage releases from the very beginning. The parties were supposed to exchange, 24 hours in advance, lists of hostages and prisoners to be released, giving both sides time to prepare the families.
On the morning of the first release, Hamas still hadn’t turned over the list, delaying the deal. When it did release the list, it did so publicly, on social media, infuriating Israel’s negotiators, according to Arab mediators in the talks.
Protocol became a bigger issue as Hamas’s theatrics grew more elaborate and were a significant point of contention even before Thursday’s showdown, mediators said.
When Hamas released four female soldiers this past Saturday, it held a less violent but similarly staged event. Hamas forced the women to wear green attire meant to look like military uniforms and had them waving and smiling to cameras from a stage.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, as the humanitarian organisation is officially known, sat on chairs before a desk on the stage, as in a formal state ceremony.
On Thursday, hours before the release of the Israeli hostages Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses, Hamas held a similarly theatrical release of a fifth female Israeli soldier. Agam Berger, 20, was let go in the midst of the ruins of Jabalia, a city in northern Gaza that saw fierce fighting in the war.
A huge Palestinian flag was draped from a hollowed-out building, and one of the posters at the event said, “Jabalia is the grave of Givati,” referring to an Israeli army unit that fought in the area and lost many soldiers.
At one point, while being paraded on a stage, a masked cameraman can be seen directing Berger to smile and wave. She quickly complied.
With its guns silenced and its soldiers on the periphery of Gaza, there is little Israel can do to stop Hamas from parading the hostages around. Hamas wants to “demonstrate their strength and standing in Gaza,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Hamas, in a statement after the hostage releases, said the decision to run two public handovers in different locations across Gaza on the same day was designed to show “the world that our people remain on their land”.
“The massive turnout of our Palestinian people,” Hamas said, “is a message of determination, strength, and defiance.”
The comments came after US President Donald Trump in recent days proposed relocating Palestinians for a time from war-ravaged Gaza to neighbouring countries, Egypt and Jordan, an idea that was widely dismissed by Arab states.
Looming over the hostage releases is the question of whether Israel and Hamas can negotiate toward a permanent end to the fighting in Gaza. The two sides are expected on Monday to begin negotiating on a permanent deal that would end the war for good and see the rest of the Israeli hostages freed.
“It’s a very fragile situation,” Kuperwasser said.
Dow Jones Newswires
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