The Other War: How Israel Scours Gaza for Clues About the Hostages

The hostages in Gaza are being moved around, with Hamas shuttling some from one apartment to another to obscure their whereabouts, while others are believed to be in tunnels underground. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

All the while, at a “fusion cell” quietly formed in Israel last fall, American and Israeli intelligence and military analysts share imagery from drones and satellites, along with communications intercepts and any other information that comes their way that might offer a hint to the hostages’ locations.

More than one war is being waged in the Gaza Strip.

For the most part, the world sees the airstrikes and the ground invasion, which Israel says are aimed at dismantling Hamas and have reduced much of the territory to rubble, setting off a humanitarian crisis. But the rescue on Saturday of four hostages was a reminder that Israel and Hamas are engaged in another, less visible battle:

The militants are determined to hold on to the hostages they seized during their deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, for use as human bargaining chips. The Israelis are determined to bring them home.

Conflict in Israel and Gaza, in Photos
A surprise attack by Hamas put Israel and the group that controlled Gaza at war. Here are images from the assault and what has followed.
Israeli and American officials say they do not know where many hostages are being held. And even when they do, in many cases, a rescue mission is simply not possible.

To date, Israel has rescued a total of seven hostages, but the stark reality is that since the war began, more hostages have died, either in the fighting or at the hands of Hamas. Israel has recovered far more bodies than living hostages.

For all the rejoicing Saturday’s rescues set off in Israel, Israeli and U.S. officials say the complexity of the operation itself and the violence that accompanied it underscored the challenges of finding and extracting hostages. One rescuer died; Israeli commandos killed many Hamas fighters; and many civilians were killed in the crossfire. Hamas also said that three other hostages were killed by Israeli airstrikes, a claim denied by an Israel Defense Forces spokesman.

And it is not clear how many more opportunities for rescue raids there will be, at least aboveground ones. The hostages that have been saved to date have been rescued only from apartments. Now, current and former Israeli and American officials say, Hamas is likely to change tactics, seeking to move more hostages into tunnels and potentially out of reach of commando forces. cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd cvd

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