GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 290

Unhappy Families

More Hostages Have Died

We discovered from a report from The Jerusalem Post that two more hostages have been confirmed dead, but who killed them is embarrassing for the IDF:

The IDF confirmed on Monday that two hostages, Alexander Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtab, are dead and that they were probably mistakenly killed by IDF forces during battles in Khan Yunis some months ago.

The pair were part of those taken captive by Hamas from the original attack:

Dancyg, 76, was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Buchshtab, 35, was seized from Kibbutz Nirim. Dancyg, born in Poland, was a historian and a Holocaust educator.

Buchshtab’s wife was also taken at the same time, but she was released in the first hostage deal:

Buchshtab and his wife, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtab, 36, who worked in alternative medicine, were taken hostage from Nirim on October 7. She was released from captivity on November 28 as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas already said the two were killed, but Israel didn’t confirm that because the terrorist group is always trying to make Israel look bad even if the facts aren’t correct:

On March 10, Hamas issued an update that the two hostages had been killed. However, Hamas has engaged in a variety of psychological warfare tactics. While there are cases where the IDF has mistakenly killed hostages, there are dozens of cases where Hamas killed hostages they were detaining and then later tried to blame the IDF.

The military had therefore not accepted Hamas’s March announcement – until now.

Here’s what changed since March:

However, the IDF recently acquired new unspecified intelligence, which, combined with Hamas’s announcement and other information, confirmed that the two hostages are in fact dead.

Despite the announcement coming on the same day that the IDF is calling for an evacuation of Palestinians from Khan Yunis, seemingly in preparation for a re-invasion of the area, the military said there was no connection between the two events.

The PM confirmed it himself:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday afternoon. “My wife Sara and I received with deep pain and sorrow the news that the late Yagev Buchshtab and the late Alex Dancyg, who were kidnapped by Hamas, are no longer alive. Our hearts go out to the dear families in their heavy grief. I am committed to bringing home all of our abductees – both alive and dead,” he said.

Other than confirming their deaths, the IDF hasn’t verified more details:

The IDF did not disclose the exact circumstances of the hostages’ deaths or that it was completely certain that the IDF had caused it but said that based on new intelligence – including the fact that the military was operating in certain areas of Khan Yunis at the time in question – it is likely that they were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces.

The decision to confirm their deaths was made in consultation with the military rabbinate, the Health Ministry, and forensics officials.

Hostage Families Are Outraged

As we would expect, when more hostages are discovered to have died while in captivity, the families are devastated and we hear how they feel in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Yuval Dancyg, the son of Alex — a renowned Holocaust educator who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz — wrote on Instagram on Monday that “this isn’t how it was supposed to end.”

“You were abducted alive and breathing from your bed on that cursed morning, and you should have returned home alive and in one piece. I’m sorry we didn’t succeed in this task,” wrote Yuval.

“In the last few months, I was exposed more and more to the number of people you inspired and to what an amazing legacy you left behind,” Yuval added. “I promise to carry this legacy with me to every place and to tell your story.”

“Now is the time for grieving and memorializing. The time to settle the score with those responsible for what happened will come,” he added obliquely.

Another family member was less diplomatic:

Another son of Alex, Mati Dancyg, was more explicit in his remarks, saying that “Dad didn’t just die — he died for the sake of [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government of destruction,” and called on the public to protest the government.

Mati continued with his feelings about how this all played out:

The prime minister “is continuing to thwart and sabotage any chance for a deal” and is “choosing to save his rotten government, rather than save the lives of Israeli citizens whose abduction he himself is responsible for,” Mati charged.

“The sacrificing of the hostages out of political motives is a much, much greater failure than the failure of October 7. This isn’t just criminal negligence, it is full-on treason,” Mati added, saying that he does not want any IDF soldier to be endangered by being sent on a mission to retrieve his father’s body.

The widow of the other hostage, who was released back in November said this:

Reacting to news of his death, Rimon said that “our final moments together where full of hugs and kisses and ‘I love yous.’ Yagev made sure to tell me that if I’m OK, then he is OK. That he would be home in a few days.”

Rimon said that the couple had “already planned how I would be sitting on the sofa in Nirim, with the dogs, the cats, cooking, waiting for him. It was supposed to take a few days” until he was released as well. “This isn’t how it was meant to end. My heart is broken. Yagev was a good soul, sensitive, beautiful and magical. And I am his.”

Unfortunately, one of the reasons these men were taken is for exactly what we’re hearing. The terrorists are preying on the emotions of the relatives of those they took and the supporters of getting them back. Hamas should be the target of this outrage. That needs to change.

No Significant Loss

We learn in another report from The Jerusalem Post that the IDF could fully leave Gaza for a time to get all the hostages back:

The IDF can temporarily withdraw from Gaza to allow for the first phase of a hostage deal to move forward, top defense sources have told The Jerusalem Post, as mediating countries Egypt and Hamas have sought to finalize an agreement with the help of the United States.

The PM, however, isn’t publicly agreeing to that:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to discuss the deal with top US officials during his three-day visit to Washington, which began Monday night. To underscore his commitment to securing a deal, Netanyahu brought released hostages and relatives of hostages, as well as rescued hostage Noa Argamani and her father, on his plane with him to the United States.

He has pushed back at criticism, particularly from defense officials, that he has not been flexible enough on some of his key principled points, including his insistence that Israel must retain security control of Gaza.

But the Post is hearing that pulling out for a time wouldn’t change things much:

Multiple top defense sources have told the Jerusalem Post that there would be no significant security loss to Israel if it withdrew fully from Gaza for 42 days to enable the release of anywhere from 18 to 33 live hostages out of the remaining 120.

As we’ve been talking about, the news of the deaths of two more hostages is important:

The IDF announcement that Monday that hostages Yagev Buchshtab, a 35-year-old sound technician, and Alex Dancyg, 76, a historian, had been killed in captivity only underscores the critical nature of releasing the captives.

The report then gives us more details on this military thinking:

Defense sources argued that Israel has withdrawn at one point or another from every part of the Gaza Strip, and as of Monday was reinvading Khan Yunis after having left it with no Israeli soldiers since April 7.

With the return of IDF forces to Khan Yunis, the IDF has now successfully re-invaded every part of Gaza, given that over the last couple of months, it reinvaded different parts of northern Gaza.

The IDF took operational control of northern Gaza by mid-January and then had almost no forces there for months before reinvading.

The sources noted that there are ways to maintain a presence in critical places without soldiers:

Likewise, the top sources have said that creative solutions can maintain security on the Philadelphi Corridor even after an IDF withdrawal and that, if necessary, the IDF could quickly return there as well.

Regardless of who is saying what, these IDF sources believe that Israel can stop fighting to get back more hostages, although not all of them by agreeing to a ceasefire. But we also know that Hamas isn’t going to release all of them ever. Other military leaders still feel that just rescuing them in the course of eliminating Hamas would be quicker and that by holding back they are actually contributing to more hostages dying. Whose logic will be right? We don’t know, but prayer is ultimately the best way to help for those of us who can’t put on a uniform and enlist in the IDF. Our fight isn’t against flesh and blood but in the spiritual realm and that is where we can do major damage to the enemies’ plans.