Inside Hamas’ fiendishly ‘calculated’ blueprint for hostage release — and who will be last on list
By Olivia Land
Published Oct. 24, 2023, 4:44 p.m. ET
Hamas is following a fiendishly “calculated” blueprint in its hostage release to try to curry global favor — and it likely doesn’t include freeing any Israeli soldiers without major quid pro quo, a top expert says.
The move by the Palestinian terrorists to release an American mother and daughter first last week was probably designed to pressure the Biden administration into urging Israel to delay its planned scorched-earth ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to buy time in the hostage crisis, said former FBI agent and hostage-team expert Christopher O’Leary to The Post on Tuesday.
Hamas’ release of another pair of women, two elderly Israelis, late Monday was also a “very calculated” move — this time to try and show the world that it is “a legitimate negotiator with some kind of humanitarian leaning,” O’Leary said – even though the terrorists brutalized women and children during their bloody invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
After former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was released Monday, she revealed that she and a few of her fellow captives were separated from the main group into a smaller room in Hamas’ infamous “spiderweb” of Gaza tunnels.
O’Leary said the move wasn’t surprising.
“Hamas has [probably] bucketed the victims into different groups: women and children, people with medical conditions, dual nationals like Americans, Israeli civilians and Israeli military,” he said.
“You don’t want soldiers mixed with civilians. Because the soldiers are going to be looking for an opportunity to break out or gather information, and they’re going to need more security on them,” he said.
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https://nypost.com/2023/10/24/news/inside-hamas-fiendishly-calculated-blueprint-for-hostage-release-and-who-will-be-last-on-list/
