Hamas’ Inhumanity Knows No Limits

If there was even a slight assumption that the members of Hamas and those implicit in Hamas’ activities have even an ounce of humanity, recent events confirm that their ideology is massively flawed. Even if one were to entirely base their opinion of Hamas on their actions following the October 7th massacre and not include the massacre itself in their opinions, there is still no evidence that these barbarians possess the slightest of morals.

Despite Hamas openly expressing their disregard for human life, they have recently hammered in this fact by now making a publicized game out of the lives of some of the hostages held captive in Gaza. In three different videos, three individuals were mentioned: Noa Argamani, Yossi Sharabi and Itai Savirsky. Noa’s kidnapping from the music festival went viral as she was seen on the back of a motorcycle reaching out desperately to her boyfriend, who was also being taken hostage. Yossi Sharabi and Itai Savirsky were both kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, the kibbutz where nearly 1 out of every 10 members were killed. Itai Savirsky was not from Kibbutz Be’eri, but was visiting his parents for the holidays there. Sadly, his parents were murdered in the massacre. Yossi Sharabi was a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri and was kidnapped along with his brother, Eli Sharabi, whose wife and two daughters were murdered, and Ofir Engel, a resident of Jerusalem who was also visiting his family for the holiday, but was later released following the hostage deal.

Hamas’ Shameless Dehumanization of Hostages

Hamas aired three videos with three innocent captives. The first showed clips of the hostages delivering a similar message asking for a stop to the war and to be brought home. Hamas ended the videos with the ominous message: “tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.”

The second video asked the audience what they believed the fate of these three hostages was in English, Hebrew, and Arabic: that they all were killed, that some were killed and some injured, or that all were alive. This video ended by sharing that the fate of these hostages would be revealed that evening. The last video, published a few hours later, showed Noa Argamani sharing that Itai Savirsky and Yossi Sharabi had been killed “in an Israeli airstrike”.

The IDF denied these claims, labeling them as a “Hamas lie”. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari made this statement in relation to the deaths of these two hostages:

“Itai was not shot by our forces – this is a Hamas lie. The building where they were being held was not a target, and it was not struck by our forces.” The IDF spokesman also said that the IDF “did not know their real-time location; we do not strike in places where we know there may be hostages. In hindsight, we know we struck targets near to the location where they were being held. We are investigating the event and its circumstances, examining the images distributed by Hamas, alongside additional information at our disposal.”

While some may believe Hamas’ half-baked story regarding the deaths of these two hostages, it is apparent that a coincidence in the timing of the release of these sickening videos and the deaths of the hostages is extremely unrealistic. The fact that Hamas had made a game out of the lives of these three individuals and that two of them were later revealed to be dead at the same time that their fate was set to be revealed is extremely incriminating. 

Labeling the videos as “psychological warfare”, Israeli officials have largely avoided responding to Hamas’ publications of the hostages. This should be assuring to Israel’s supporters, that Israel and the IDF have no intentions of playing Hamas’ perturbed game and are maintaining a very straightforward, no nonsense mindset in regards to this war and the hostage situation.

Why Would Hamas Do This?

This question can be applied to nearly every decision and every action Hamas has made since its inception, but in regards to the massacre and the wretched videos recently released, this entirely dehumanizes the hostages to the viewers of Hamas’ propaganda. These individuals have been broadcasted as less-than human and have become pawns in Hamas’ vile representation of their lives. Hamas has never and will never care about what will happen to these hostages and if they are able to cause their lives and deaths to make a smaller emotional impact on those watching, then they are effectively manipulating the masses into viewing their horrifying actions as ordinary.

Every single day that these hostages are held captive by Hamas is another day that they can’t afford; they have to be returned to Israel as soon as possible. One more day in captivity may be one day too many. Ultimately Hamas’ reasoning is none other than this: to murder every Jew and to commit atrocities against them every chance they can. If this behavior is not addressed by the world and taken seriously, then there is a strong chance that another tragedy, similar to what has happened in the last four months, may happen again. We, as individuals with a voice and an impact, must ensure that a tragedy such as this may never occur again.