The Take

The Take: Are the captives a priority in Israel’s war on Gaza?

hostage release protests — A person reacts as residents of Tel Aviv show support and solidarity with the families of hostages held in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 21, 2023 [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]

There are two objectives in phase two of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: the destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, as well as the release of the captives, some of which were seen in a Hamas video on Monday. But how will the hostages affect Israel’s calculus, and how much of a priority are they?

In this episode:

Haggai Matar (@Ha_Matar), +972 Executive Director
Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_), +972 News Journalist and Photographer

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Fahrinisa Campana, Miranda Lin and our host Natasha del Toro, in for Malika Bilal. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Source: Al Jazeera