Former U.S. official says Hamas leader surrounded by hostages - I24NEWS
General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, cited insider sources suggesting that Sinwar has approximately 15 to 20 hostages surrounding him and his family in Gaza
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Hamas kingpin holed up deep below Gaza, surrounded by hostages used as human shields, says expert
The use of hostages to prevent an Israeli incursion to free captives from Hamas sparks analysis about terrorist leader’s psyche, motivations and his embrace of radical Islam.
A former US Army official told Sky News on Thursday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is purportedly using Israeli hostages as human shields to safeguard himself and his family.
General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, cited insider sources suggesting that Sinwar has approximately 15 to 20 hostages surrounding him and his family in Gaza.
David Wurmser, a former senior adviser for nonproliferation and Middle East strategy for former Vice President Dick Cheney, said about Sinwar’s use of hostages that "the holding of hostages – since he values their lives nil – is nothing more than, say, a soldier taking cover behind a tree or rock when under heavy fire. It is not cowardice, but an intelligent and primordial impulse. He has no more empathy for a hostage than a soldier does for the rock. Indeed, the same with the ‘innocent’ Palestinian civilians."
"All is part of a very sober and rational strategy. And given the amount he has taken control of Israeli and U.S. policy with hostages and human shields, it’s a very rational strategy," Wurmser added. "We consider it cruel – but that requires empathy, which he is devoid of, and immoral, but that implies that advancing Islam at all costs is the ultimate morality and the filter for determining whether an action is moral or not."
