Allied Status: An Exercise In Selective Reasoning

There are some practical reasons why they do this. For one, to be sure none are suicide bombers or armed. You know how Palestinians wear loose clothes, so it's easy to hide weapons. They could all be Hamas members, or some or none. The Israelis might not know. They're probably blindfolded so they can't identify the soldiers holding them, as well as shielding the identities of the captives in the photo.

It helps to have more context. It doesn't appear that any have been beaten or bloodied (yet). If they were all found together (without women) that might've raised suspicions. At this point it's all speculation. But like Scratcho says, it's normal in war. Perhaps they surrendered.

I find it interesting that younger generations of Americans don't understand what war means. When Israel finally declared war on Hamas, after the atrocities they carried out in Israel, it means that nothing is sacred, anything goes. I believe many war crimes were done by both sides, and it's extremely difficult to protect citizens when the "enemy" lurks among them, using them as a shield.

Hamas put together their army fully expecting to use it against Israel. That is their mission. Israel put together its army long ago to protect itself. Now Israel's mission is to rescue the hostages and finish off Hamas so they're no longer a threat.

Normally a war ends when one side surrenders. I don't think that happens much anymore. It would like Trump actually admitting he lost an election (surrendering). So in this case it means that the war won't stop until Hamas is destroyed, one way or another. They could've released the hostages and surrendered anytime to save those 35,000 lives, but no. It really doesn't seem like Hamas has the best interests of the Palestinian people in mind, only their own power and glory.

 

My understanding is that many Palestinians don't like (hate) Hamas, way more now after what they did to the Israelis and the resulting war, which wasn't what Hamas had expected.

But since Hamas still exists, (they even sent out some more rockets this week, and they still hold Israeli hostages) giving Israel reasons to continue the war.

However the Israelis are managing this war poorly. They're losing many of their own soldiers with their tactics, not getting the hostages released, and killing so many innocent people.

War is Hell in case you forgot.

 

When looking at the Palestinians in the picture above, remember that Hamas isn't the only terrorist organization in Gaza. Islamic Jihad is yet another group with even more radical ends. They wouldn't hesitate to send a suicide bomber into a group of Israeli soldiers. That is probably why they're half naked, cause they need to identify them.