For nearly two weeks since the Hamas attack on Israel, those in the country and in Gaza have been forced to navigate multiple overlapping crises: the killing of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians and a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza; a looming Israeli ground invasion; and the heightened possibility of a larger war in the region. In the midst of it all, Israelis have not forgotten the victims who were kidnapped and taken as hostages in Gaza.
The number of hostages — which Israel says is 199 and Hamas says is closer to 250 — include elderly people, women, and children, one of whom is 9 months old. Among them are American, French, and German citizens, at least one Palestinian resident of Israel, and an Israeli peace activist. They are believed to be held in Hamas’s extensive tunnel network, which they use to run military operations and store weapons, snaking beneath the city.
Family members say they’ve received very little information from their governments or Hamas about the kidnapping victims’ whereabouts, or whether they’re still alive. They are sharing their anguish with the world — this mass kidnapping, unlike previous incidents, was captured in real-time videos disseminated on social media — and pleading for a safe return of their loved ones. “I didn’t know if she’s dead or alive until yesterday,” the mother of Mia Schem, one of the hostages, told reporters Tuesday after a video of her daughter in Gaza was released. “I’m begging the world to bring my baby back home.”
The hostage-taking, which coincided with what many are calling the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, would be painful enough in its own right. Israel, though, has a long and traumatic history of hostage crises. The country has never seen this scale of hostage emergency before, and never dealt with such complex circumstances. “This is without question the most difficult hostage situation Israel has ever faced in its…
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