An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed that there were “hostage situations” in the southern city of Ofakim and the nearby kibbutz of Beeri.
Hamas said it had taken “dozens” of Israeli soldiers hostage and moved them to the Gaza Strip as footage emerged appearing to show gunmen in military fatigues leading a group of mostly barefoot women down a street in Israel.
The announcement and video verified by NBC News came hours after Hamas launched a deadly land, air and sea attack and fired a huge barrage of rockets at Israel.
Yes, since now all those things will be escalated in revenge for these indiscriminate attacks. It goes both ways, it’s not one side that needs to relent; to achieve peace, both sides need to relent, but acts like this make that notion more and more implausible, and in the end it’ll only lead to further escalation and further suffering, and given that Israel has more resources than Palestine or Gaza, that suffering will be felt more by the people Hamas “protects”.