CAIRO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - A Hamas guard who killed an Israeli hostage acted "in revenge" and against instructions after he heard news that his two children had been killed in an Israeli strike, a spokesperson for the group's armed wing said on Thursday.
"The (Hamas) soldier assigned as a guard acted in a retaliatory manner, against instructions, after he received information that his two children were martyred in one of the massacres conducted by the enemy," Abu Ubaida said on Telegram.
"The incident doesn't represent our ethics and the instructions of our religion in dealing with captives. We will reinforce the instructions," he added.
Part of me thinks it's propaganda not bargaining power. On several occasions the IDF has dropped bombs on or shot the hostages
accidentalywontonly. The message Hamas is maybe trying to send is that the IDF doesn't care about saving the hostages. The IDF just want to eradicate the Palestinians. Then again I'm halfway around the world so what do I really know?For what it's worth, I tend to agree with you. It's definitely about the propaganda value and the perceived "moral high ground", but the real question is how much are those things actually worth in the current state of the conflict. At least in my view, sadly very little.