By releasing two hostages at a time every few days, Hamas could perpetually delay the ground invasion of Gaza while the international pressure on Israel keeps on growing, Herb Keinon, senior contributing editor and analyst at The Jerusalem Post warns in a conversion with the Post’s managing editor David Brinn.
“I think that what Hamas is trying to do is obvious,” Keinon says. “They're trying to delay it. They're trying to get fuel into Gaza that will then be diverted to them. And Israel is going to have to figure out how to maneuver that. I don't know how Israel is going to do that. So far it has put itself in a situation where they're waiting and every other day, Hamas is going to release two hostages and perpetually push off the ground invasion. I don't think the country will tolerate that.”
A country in shock
Keinon also highlights how the bloody attack by Hamas has thrown Israel into a situation that the nation had never experienced before.
“The country to a large extent has been hit by a one-two punch,” he says. “First of all, the people most affected are those who lost somebody or who have family or friends or relatives being held in Gaza, and what they're going through is unthinkable to most of us. But this is affecting everybody, what is happening weighs on everybody's heart.”
Brinn points out how Israeli society as a whole is also impacted by the situation on a practical level.
“I have four children and three of them are no longer in the same place they were three weeks ago,” echoes Brinn. “One is in the army, one had to relocate from the northern border down to Jerusalem when they evacuated the north, and one has left for the United States for the time being. This is definitely affecting everybody.”