ENTEBBE

• Hamas took more than 200 people hostage during its deadly rampage in Israeli border towns on Oct. 7, 2023.
• While four of them have been released, the fate of the rest is unknown, as Qatar serves as an intermediary in working to free the hostages.
• This one, says Treverton, “is basically an adjunct of warfare, and that makes it very different” – and very hard to solve.
• I think it’s one of the hardest parts of being in the national security business.
• And at some some point – as the Israelis have shown – they’re prepared to pay almost any price to get them back.

• This is more than 200 times the number of hostages, so how do you even think about that?
• The closest parallel would be the 1976 Entebbe hijacking and hostage-taking by two Germans and two Palestinians on a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris.
• Hijackers held 103 Israeli hostages, once they released the 148 non-Israeli hostages.
• When you think about the history of hostage negotiations, do you see something that has any relevance to what’s going on now?

• What does Israel’s heavy bombing of Gaza and the beginning of a ground invasion tell you about the government’s approach to the hostage situation?
• Given the Hamas practice of using civilians as human shields, the outcome is likely to be very ugly.
• But that’s not a strategy for dealing with the hostages or for Gaza after the attack.

Gregory F. Treverton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.