Israel-Hamas war: What lies beyond the ‘sliver of hope’ after release of two hostages by Hamas

The visuals of two Israeli-American women being brought into Israel, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage and were being held captive by Hamas, has stoked reactions of hope for more such releases. So far, the total number of individuals held hostage by Hamas is numbered up to 203, with the final number likely to rise, according to Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF).

Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan were back in Israel late Friday, the Israeli government said.

The two women were at the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than two kilometres from Gaza, when Hamas members broke through a border fence on 7 October, and slaughtered over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 200 others to hold them hostage in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden said he was “overjoyed” at the news of the release of hostages. While Hamas said that it was working with Qatar and Egypt to free its “civilian” hostages, a sign that more releases could follow. 

The photo released after Judith and Natalie Raanan finally made it to safety showed the two women looking exhausted and pale, a reflection of the appalling ordeal faced by the two.

Also watch | Israel-Palestine War: The Hostage Crisis | What is Israel’s plan?

The development was also described positively by aid organisations. Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of International Committee of the Red Cross President said that the release of hostages provided a “sliver of hope” for the families of other hostages as Spoljaric called upon all sides in the conflict to show “a minimum of humanity”.

In the immediate future, Qatar, which also hosts two top Hamas leaders, is expected to engage with both Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages. While Israel has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said that their efforts are aimed to ensure “the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace”. 

Asked by WION’s Principal Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal, the IDF spokesperson  Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said that the number of people held hostage by Hamas may well go above 203.

“The working assumption is that they’re alive. And I would add that we expect Hamas to take care of their well being, they need to be released and be released now,” Lerner told WION.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross have access to the hostages.”

“But I don’t want to comment beyond that because I don’t want to jeopardise them or the families of 203 people that are in despair and their life has been torn into pieces in the aftermath of this attack for the last 14 days,” he added.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement released on Wednesday evening, had indicated the interconnected nature of the three demands he put out to the US President Joe Biden during latter’s wartime visit to Israel.

“First, I demanded the return of our captives, and we are working together for their return in every possible way,” Netanyahu said. “Second, until their return, we demand Red Cross visits for our captives. Third, we will not allow humanitarian assistance in the form of food and medicines from our territory to the Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu, however, had added that it would “not prevent humanitarian assistance from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population located in the southern Gaza Strip.” It had further added that such aid would be allowed “as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas. Any supplies that reach Hamas will be prevented.”

At the time of filing this report, the impasse over supply of aid into Gaza, even through Egypt’s Rafah crossing, has turned into a deadlock. This is even after a wartime visit to Israel by Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s week-long West Asia trip had humanitarian access to Gaza as one of the top foreign policy objectives. 

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