I say this, since the Western news media seems to have stopped pretending to care about a pretence of neutrality and bringing up human shields and the "savage Islamic radical hordes" again...
Idc if it's IDF soldiers and political figures they're only capturing, but it seems to also include settler civilians, specifically some women, others elderly, and a few youths (may or may not be teens).
It's an unknown amount, but it seems like a lot more than some dozens
What the hell do they need them for? As a bargaining chip?
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dna-prayers-israelis-desperate-word-missing-kin-hamas-attack-2023-10-08/
Edit 1: What if they left the collaborator settler "civilians" alone, but kept the important political and military figures with them
Edit 2: On second thoughts, the settlers can seem to be indirectly, if not fully committed to this settler-colonial project, considering by the presence of paramilitaries and settling alone...
It's a smart tactic and I was thinking the same thing. The whole situation has also shown how fragile their security really is. Watched Hasan comment on it earlier, he thinks that a Israelis killed by the IDF would collapse Israel so they need to go in on foot.
In the mean time, they might be taking these people around and showing them what their lives are like and what they've suffered... Maybe some get released later and go hard against the Israeli state. It'll be interesting to see what actually plays out.
I saw an image of an old lady with a Palestinian fighter and she has his gun in her lap and looks pretty relaxed. Both of them are throwing up peace signs.