Gaza is tiny but rescuing hostages there would be a daunting task
JERUSALEM — The Hamas-run Gaza Strip is a tiny enclave, measuring 25 miles long and no more than 7 miles wide, surveilled continually by Israel, surrounded by its guns. But rescuing — or even locating — more than 150 hostages hustled there by Palestinian militants who overran Israel’s southern border on Saturday will be a daunting task. Gaza’s densely populated terrain, its network of underground tunnels and the sheer numbers of men, women and children taken captive present Israel with the most complex hostage crisis that the country has ever faced. Mounting rescue operations in the midst of the massive Israeli bombardment of Gaza that followed the deadly Hamas rampage in southern Israel would only make an already difficult mission even more formidable. “The situation is unprecedented,” said Gershon Baskin, who helped to negotiate the 2011 release of Staff Sergeant Gilad Schalit after more than five years of Hamas captivity. “I think Hamas was surprised at the ease it was able to take hostages. Israel was completely bewildered by everything that’s happened.” Images of hostages have become seared into Israel’s collective consciousness. The panicked woman being dragged off by militants on a motorcycle, her boyfriend marched across the border on foot. The terrified mother, wrapped in a blanket, clasping her two young children. Eli Elbag had tried for 12 hours to contact his soldier daughter Liri, 18, who was training to be a lookout at the Gaza border. Then a friend sent a video showing her crowded into the back seat of an Israeli military truck that militants had commandeered, sitting next to two other hostages, one with blood covering his face. As Israel pummels neighborhood after neighborhood in Gaza, Elbag and his wife have been glued to the television, looking for any sign of her. He said he understands the Israeli operation but remains concerned for Liri’s safety. “Nobody,” said Elbag, “can understand what we are feeling.” An extremely complex situation Hamas has demanded freedom for all 5,200 prisoners the Palestinians say are held in Israeli jails in exchange for the captives. It has warned it will kill a hostage every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning. The group is also holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, as well as two Israeli civilians who entered its territory years ago. Information about the hostages seized Saturday
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