So long as at least 10 hostages per day are released, the Israeli Defense Forces are “pausing” military operations against Hamas commanders and fighters, most believed to be sheltering in a network of multi-billion-dollars tunnels.

Will this deal result in more Israeli soldiers being killed? Almost certainly. But Israeli soldiers believe it is their duty to save civilians.

Hamas’s leaders, by contrast, believe it is the duty of civilians to save them. And Hamas leaders know that dead Gazans produce propaganda wins.

[That which gets incentivized, increases. Israel and the West are literally paying Hamas to kidnap people. At some point, the West will have to toughen up, because as 10/7 proved, markets expand — and now we’re paying Hamas for its atrocities and massacres, too. Do we really want more of that? — Ed]