Commentary | The War of Attrition in Gaza: The Price of Indecision

Passover has arrived, the holiday of freedom, and the hostages are not home. A joyless holiday for a sad, tired, and worried public. The IDF is operating in Gaza neighborhoods, and dozens of rockets are once again being launched from Gaza toward Ashkelon. Chaos in the Shin Bet, and the judicial-governmental revolution continues in full force.

Ministers and Knesset members are traveling abroad, while hundreds of thousands protest in the squares of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. And the hostages have not returned. 59 are still in the Gaza tunnels, alive and dead. 

For years, the Shin Bet, now fighting for its own survival, led the mission of intelligence gathering in the Gaza Strip, alongside Military Intelligence and other units. Until October 7, the Shin Bet failed to recruit even one Gazan who would inform his handlers of the preparations for war and warn them that Hamas was about to invade Israel on that day.

The failure of human intelligence

It's called HUMINT—human intelligence. A spy, an agent, a single Palestinian in Gaza who, in exchange for money or benefits, would share information and report what's happening around him.
It's reasonable to assume that none were found, despite the professional efforts of agent handlers in the Shin Bet and a special unit in Military Intelligence.

It is also reasonable to assume that had such reliable and accurate information come from within Gaza, we would have seen a different response from security forces to what happened at that cursed moment—06:29.
That didn’t happen before October 7, and astonishingly, it seems not to have happened since, regarding the question that should concern the public more than anything else: Where are the hostages?

IDF and Shin Bet operatives have carried out heroic actions in recent months to search for and locate the hostages—both in the field and in special units where some of the country’s brightest minds have been working on this for a year and a half.
They are using the best available tools, especially in search, tracking, and discovery capabilities, deploying human intellect and professional knowledge.

Supreme efforts, tragic results

But the tragic reality: On this day, a year and a half into the war, the whereabouts of 59 hostages—alive or dead, civilians and soldiers—remain unknown. The Israeli citizen is confident that if the location of even one hostage were known, every possible action, and more, would be taken to bring them home. So where is the HUMINT?

After all, the IDF has not left the Gaza Strip. Nearly three divisions are sweeping the area at this very hour—Rafah, Khan Yunis, Jabalia. IDF forces are combing the neighborhoods for the umpteenth time, and still, no results regarding the hostages' locations.

They film and record from land, air, and sea using the best surveillance and collection tools the IDF has.
Across the Strip, tens of thousands of Palestinians are being relocated north to south and back again according to operational needs. Hundreds of trucks and tons of aid are being handled.

And the hostages remain missing. Endless meetings are being held, proposals are presented, deals are being negotiated—and the hostages remain missing.

Between talks and deals—are the hostages forgotten?

As this weekend approaches, there's talk of a new deal, an Egyptian initiative. The deal would see the release of a certain number of hostages—eight, ten, or eleven. Every returning hostage would be a blessing, a joy to their family.

But a year and a half after the beginning of captivity in Hamas tunnels, the urgent need is to release all of them—each and every one, living or deceased. Even if the condition is a ceasefire and the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza. It’s a heavy price—some will say an impossible one—but it is the price a government must pay when, under its watch and due to a colossal failure, these people fell into the hands of a terrorist organization.

The IDF is sweeping the Strip—but not with iron combs, so as not to harm or endanger hostages whose whereabouts in tunnels are likely unknown. The IDF speaks less of maneuvers and assaults and more about "military actions."
The forces operate in Gaza with caution and slowness to avoid endangering hostages somewhere deep underground.

Caution vs. determination – a difficult dilemma

For the vast majority of Israeli citizens this Passover, there is no doubt: Bringing the hostages home has to be the number one goal of this war, now ongoing for a year and a half.

Governments in Israel sent and encouraged border-area residents to settle along the country's edges to protect it, but its emissaries weren’t there when the borders were breached by thousands of murderous terrorist infiltrators who challenged the most powerful army in the Middle East.

An army with fighter jets and tanks, sophisticated equipment and excellent soldiers. But they weren’t in place on their watch on October 7. That’s the bottom line after a year and a half.

This summary also raises sad reflections beyond the local scene: In 2025, the world is still unable to prevent the most asymmetrical of wars: a few thousand terrorists invading a country with an army. The UN, the Security Council, NATO, the EU, the Red Cross, the Western powers with massive militaries and nuclear weapons—none could prevent Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Hamas’s war against Israel, or eliminate the Houthi rebels disrupting global shipping and attacking Israel. The US and Israeli air forces struck the Houthis hard, but they persist.

International helplessness

The world’s great powers—militarily and politically—cannot prevent a rogue state like Iran from developing nuclear weapons and threatening to destroy another UN member and so-called "friend." All of these entities have plenty of explanations, arguments, justifications, theories, and excuses—military and political.

The bottom line this Passover: The war in Ukraine has dragged on for three years, with no end in sight. The war in Gaza has continued for a year and a half, also with no end in sight. Two terror organizations—Hamas and Hezbollah—have been dealt severe blows by the IDF.
 

And dozens of hostages are still not home.