By Athena Papakosta

At least 150 hostages kidnapped in southern Israel by Hamas gunmen on the morning of October 7 are being held in secret locations in Gaza. Among them are women, children and the elderly.

In the past for Israel the civilian hostage situation would have been an absolute priority. Today, however, after the Islamist group’s surprise attack on Saturday morning in which Israeli civilians were murdered in cold blood, Tel Aviv’s priority is to eliminate Hamas.

In the last 24 hours, more and more Israeli tanks and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are gathering in the south of the country and the borders of the Gaza Strip. If Israel’s ground invasion begins, what are the chances that the 150 hostages will survive?

Right now there is absolutely no chance that either the Israeli side or the Hamas side will give in to any compromise. Already the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Wednesday night promised to “wipe Hamas off the map”.

Information, which has not been officially confirmed, suggests that Egypt, Qatar and other states are trying to negotiate the release of some of the 150 hostages. Despite this, no one confirms the fact and there has been no development on the matter.

The information is confusing as last Sunday a Hamas spokesman reportedly noted that the Islamist organization could set women and children free in exchange for the release from Israeli prisons of 36 Palestinian women and teenagers.

But then Hamas threatened that for every Israeli strike in Gaza it would execute a hostage. It is currently unknown whether she has followed through on her threats, while the Israeli armed forces continue to pound Gaza – much of which has now been leveled and no quarter of it has either electricity or running water.

It is the most difficult hostage case Israel has faced in its history.

The 150 hostages believed to be held in Gaza’s underground tunnels may be affected by the bombing. At the same time, as the BBC notes, there is always the risk that they will be executed immediately or when, possibly, Hamas gunmen realize that Israeli forces are approaching to rescue them.

At this time Israel has organized all the information on the identity of all the hostages.

Those who were in Israeli territory have been freed by the Israeli army and Israeli special forces. The Hamas gunmen holding them were executed.

In Gaza, however, things are different since the armed Hamas “play” in their headquarters. Each of the underground tunnels can prove to be a death trap for the Israeli armed forces who may even receive help from the United States special forces but Hamas has proven itself capable of asymmetric warfare.

(With information from the BBC)