Israel Set Out to Destroy Hamas and Free Hostages—but Worries It Can’t Do Both

Israeli society is divided over how to give priority to the country’s two main war aims—destroying Hamas and freeing 130 hostages, including over 30 dead hostages, abducted almost six months ago. While Israel is seeking wartime unity, many see the goals as currently irreconcilable, since most hostages—hidden deep in tunnels—can’t be freed by force and Hamas is demanding that Israel allow the militant group to survive in order to release them.

“The two aims are clashing with each other, and both can’t happen,” said Mitchell Barak, a political analyst at Jerusalem-based Keevoon Global Research. “There is no side that will be happy here.”

The divisions have heightened as Israel negotiates with Hamas, via the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, over a cease-fire that could last six weeks and see the release of 40 Israeli hostages. These hostages would be women, including female soldiers, children, the elderly and the sick. Hamas is demanding Israel let go thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some seen as deadly terrorists in Israel. Hamas also wants Israel to agree to concessions that could preserve the group’s control over Gaza even after the U.S.-designated terror group planned and executed the worst attack in Israel’s history.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said deciding between freeing hostages and defeating Hamas isn’t a binary choice but part of the same goal—winning the war. But threading the needle between both camps is both a matter of political survival and a nearly impos…  sible task, analysts say.

On one side are centrist and left-wing Israelis and most families of the hostages, who have become a political force since the war began and are willing to pay a high price for their freedom. They argue the state has a fundamental moral duty to the hostages that, if breached, would undermine citizens’ sense of security for the foreseeable future. They also argue Hamas can be fought in the future, but the hostages may die in the present.

But Israel’s right wing—Netanyahu’s political base—largely opposes on moral grounds any deal that allows Hamas to survive and frees thousands of prisoners implicated in terrorist attacks, because it would imperil Israel’s national security and the lives of citizens and soldiers in the future. They say the hostages should be freed by forcing Hamas to release them through military pressure.

If Israel’s negotiating team brings back a deal seen as giving the tactical victory to Hamas, Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition partners are threatening to bolt the government. If he fails to get a deal to free hostages, his centrist partners in the emergency government could leave, engendering a wave of protests demanding elections.

Netanyahu wants a deal, according to Israeli officials close to him, but his challenge is striking a pact that keeps his current government together and doesn’t alienate his political base ahead of likely elections later this year.