I spoke with Joshua Zitser from Business Insider about the claim from Hamas that some 40 hostages are missing in Gaza. In my view, there are four plausible reasons this could have happened: they are being held by other groups who can’t communicate with Hamas or don’t wish to cooperate, they are held by different Hamas units who are struggling to communicate with one another, they have died or escaped and been killed in the fighting, or Hamas is playing for time. The backdrop for all of this is the fog of war – an incredibly complex and difficult situation where communication is difficult, chaos is rife, and those holding the hostages are under increasing pressure from all sides.
You can read the piece here.
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