We should all be grateful for the return of the hostages young and old. Memorializing their return to their families and homes is the compassionate thing to do no matter what our political differences.

In that spirit Day one saw the return of 24 hostages.

Day two, 17 hostages.

Day three 17 hostages including our youngest American, little Abigail who turned 4 while in captivity.

Day 4 11 hostages were released.

With a 2 day extension Day 5 has brought home 12 hostages.

With open hearts we implore, Bring Them Home.

Day 6 saw the release of 16 hostages, with one American woman among them.

How many Palestinians are being exchanged for one hostage? 3:1 ? 

Jaytee said:

How many Palestinians are being exchanged for one hostage? 3:1 ? 

Yes.

Day 7, 8 hostages were released.

The truce has been suspended and there is a return to war.

On that day, 2 Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank shot and killed 3 Israelis at a bus stop.

Where did all of the Palestinian hostages come from, and how many more are the Israelites holding?

I don’t know if hostages is the correct word. I think a lot (if not most) have been charged and/or convicted of a crime. 

Prisoners swapped for hostages. 3 prisoners for one Israeli hostage. 
Hamas didn’t live up to its promises to release all the women and children. I guess they’re keeping them as bargaining chips, they claim they have the corpses of an Israeli woman and her two children, why keep them? This entire ceasefire is a joke. Back to the bombs. 

Jaytee said:

Prisoners swapped for hostages. 3 prisoners for one Israeli hostage. 
Hamas didn’t live up to its promises to release all the women and children. I guess they’re keeping them as bargaining chips, they claim they have the corpses of an Israeli woman and her two children, why keep them? This entire ceasefire is a joke. Back to the bombs. 

I wonder where the Palestinians got the idea of keeping bodies.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/8/10/why-does-israel-keep-the-bodies-of-palestinians

wedjet said:

I wonder where the Palestinians got the idea of keeping bodies.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/8/10/why-does-israel-keep-the-bodies-of-palestinians

the question remains the same…. Why keep them? 

Steve said:

I don’t know if hostages is the correct word. I think a lot (if not most) have been charged and/or convicted of a crime. 

Freed Palestinians Were Mostly Young and Not Convicted of Crimes

And how does that contradict what I wrote?  I believe that most, if not all, had been charged with some offense (as opposed to simply being dragged away from a music festival). 

Steve said:

And how does that contradict what I wrote?  I believe that most, if not all, had been charged with some offense (as opposed to simply being dragged away from a music festival). 

I provided more background on your earlier "belief" that "I think a lot (if not most) have been charged and/or convicted of a crime."

"Charged with some offense" is a claim that you could research yourself, especially with regard to what the offense was.

Some kids were locked up for pelting rocks at Israeli soldiers…

Yes, they were charged with some offense.  They were not just picked up from a music festival at gunpoint after having their friends slaughtered.  I think that any effort to equate the two is wrong.

I am not defending the Israeli government (and, I'll say it again, Netanyahu has to go as he has never been a willing partner for peace), but there are tremendous differences here.

For a few days on MSNBC and CNN, discussions of the brutal gang rapes, ending in death, of Israeli women has been explored in graphic detail.

It has been suggested that the reason Hamas has refused to turn over more women and children is that they would serve as witnesses to the torture and sexual abuse that occurred.

The evidence that was mentioned was perhaps too graphic to share here but if the what aboutism requires it, I'm not squeamish.

I also saw a clip of Dana Bash interviewing Rep. Jayapal and she questioned her about the rapes. When she replied that rape occurs in war, Bash pointed out that there have been no rapes by the IDF reported and Jayapal did not refute it.

Of course an alternative response to Rep. Jayapal could have been that there was no war going on at the time of the initial perverse rapes.

Morganna said:

For a few days on MSNBC and CNN, discussions of the brutal gang rapes, ending in death, of Israeli women has been explored in graphic detail.

It has been suggested that the reason Hamas has refused to turn over more women and children is that they would serve as witnesses to the torture and sexual abuse that occurred.

The evidence that was mentioned was perhaps too graphic to share here but if the what aboutism requires it, I'm not squeamish.

I also saw a clip of Dana Bash interviewing Rep. Jayapal and she questioned her about the rapes. When she replied that rape occurs in war, Bash pointed out that there have been no rapes by the IDF reported and Jayapal did not refute it.

Of course an alternative response to Rep. Jayapal could have been that there was no war going on at the time of the initial perverse rapes.

would you also like to see the graphic evidence of Palestinian's being blown to bits as a result of Israeli bombing?

the pile-on that Jayapal was subjected to was disgusting to watch.

drummerboy said:

would you also like to see the graphic evidence of Palestinian's being blown to bits as a result of Israeli bombing?

the pile-on that Jayapal was subjected to was disgusting to watch.

from CNN "Speakers who prepared bodies for burial described evidence that militants gang raped some victims, purposely shot or mutilated victims in genital regions and murdered victims with cruelty such as multiple gunshots wounds.

“A survivor from the Nova rave party testified, ‘Everything was an apocalypse of corpses, girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded,” said Yael Reichert, a chief superintendent with the Israeli national police who is helping lead the investigation into sexual offenses committed on Oct. 7.

Moreover, there seemed to be “a systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims,” said Shari G. Mendes, who worked in an Israeli military reserve unit to prepare deceased female soldiers for burial after the attacks. She said she witnessed the body of one young woman arrived “with no legs, they had been cut off.”

Mendes said she “saw several severed heads. One with a large kitchen knife still embedded in the neck.”

Simchat Greyman, a volunteer for ZAKA Search and Rescue, which recovered bodies from Southern Israel near Gaza after October 7th, testified to seeing a murdered woman with “nails and different objects in her female organs.” He also recalled a body they found that was so brutalized they “couldn’t even identify if it was a man or women.”

Morganna said:

from CNN "Speakers who prepared bodies for burial described evidence that militants gang raped some victims, purposely shot or mutilated victims in genital regions and murdered victims with cruelty such as multiple gunshots wounds.

“A survivor from the Nova rave party testified, ‘Everything was an apocalypse of corpses, girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded,” said Yael Reichert, a chief superintendent with the Israeli national police who is helping lead the investigation into sexual offenses committed on Oct. 7.

Moreover, there seemed to be “a systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims,” said Shari G. Mendes, who worked in an Israeli military reserve unit to prepare deceased female soldiers for burial after the attacks. She said she witnessed the body of one young woman arrived “with no legs, they had been cut off.”

Mendes said she “saw several severed heads. One with a large kitchen knife still embedded in the neck.”

Simchat Greyman, a volunteer for ZAKA Search and Rescue, which recovered bodies from Southern Israel near Gaza after October 7th, testified to seeing a murdered woman with “nails and different objects in her female organs.” He also recalled a body they found that was so brutalized they “couldn’t even identify if it was a man or women.”

And yet some people expect Israel to just forget it and make peace. Hamas purposely created this situation to garner sympathy when Israel was going to retaliate. 
Sadly the brutality will continue on both sides because there’s no peaceful way to stop it. I can imagine back in time before News spread how barbaric this world was. Humans are the worst creatures on earth.

I hope somebody has a real plan for advancing the two-state solution once this current round of fighting stops or, more likely, evolves into a hostile, contested occupation.

Regardless of the brutality of Hamas, this war is diminishing support for Israel in the United States (it has been on the decline for some time) and we are the only friend Israel has.  And supporting Israel is costing us political capital internationally.

Morganna said:

drummerboy said:

would you also like to see the graphic evidence of Palestinian's being blown to bits as a result of Israeli bombing?

the pile-on that Jayapal was subjected to was disgusting to watch.

from CNN "Speakers who prepared bodies for burial described evidence that militants gang raped some victims, purposely shot or mutilated victims in genital regions and murdered victims with cruelty such as multiple gunshots wounds.

“A survivor from the Nova rave party testified, ‘Everything was an apocalypse of corpses, girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded,” said Yael Reichert, a chief superintendent with the Israeli national police who is helping lead the investigation into sexual offenses committed on Oct. 7.

Moreover, there seemed to be “a systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims,” said Shari G. Mendes, who worked in an Israeli military reserve unit to prepare deceased female soldiers for burial after the attacks. She said she witnessed the body of one young woman arrived “with no legs, they had been cut off.”

Mendes said she “saw several severed heads. One with a large kitchen knife still embedded in the neck.”

Simchat Greyman, a volunteer for ZAKA Search and Rescue, which recovered bodies from Southern Israel near Gaza after October 7th, testified to seeing a murdered woman with “nails and different objects in her female organs.” He also recalled a body they found that was so brutalized they “couldn’t even identify if it was a man or women.”

I truly do not understand the point of your post.

Morganna said:

from CNN "Speakers who prepared bodies for burial described evidence that militants gang raped some victims, purposely shot or mutilated victims in genital regions and murdered victims with cruelty such as multiple gunshots wounds.

“A survivor from the Nova rave party testified, ‘Everything was an apocalypse of corpses, girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded,” said Yael Reichert, a chief superintendent with the Israeli national police who is helping lead the investigation into sexual offenses committed on Oct. 7.

Moreover, there seemed to be “a systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims,” said Shari G. Mendes, who worked in an Israeli military reserve unit to prepare deceased female soldiers for burial after the attacks. She said she witnessed the body of one young woman arrived “with no legs, they had been cut off.”

Mendes said she “saw several severed heads. One with a large kitchen knife still embedded in the neck.”

Simchat Greyman, a volunteer for ZAKA Search and Rescue, which recovered bodies from Southern Israel near Gaza after October 7th, testified to seeing a murdered woman with “nails and different objects in her female organs.” He also recalled a body they found that was so brutalized they “couldn’t even identify if it was a man or women.”

Unlike most other communities/faiths around the world, Judaism requires anonymous volunteers to prepare deceased for funeral. Men prepare males, women prepare females; this includes neonates/miscarried foetuses, recovered skeletons, and body parts the gender of which have been identified through DNA and other scientific tests. We limit autopsies. 
We work in teams, and we share the job of nailing the coffin lid shut (no open caskets), in Israel they might not use a casket, just a shroud/winding sheet. 

Mostly these volunteers are ordinary community members trained in Tahara, the preparation rites. You’re not paid for this, you’re not thanked or acknowledged for this work. You do it because everyone deserves respect. 
I haven’t done it in over a decade, but I have done car crash victims and elderly abused victims as well as neonates and SIDS. 
War victims, on either side of battle, would be horrific and I’d never sleep again. 

Israel is now flooding the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean Sea. Maybe they have information that there aren’t any hostages left alive. 
What a catastrophe Hamas has brought upon this land! 

I wonder what Edwin Montagu would say about the current state of affairs.

Jaytee said:

Israel is now flooding the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean Sea. Maybe they have information that there aren’t any hostages left alive. 
What a catastrophe Hamas has brought upon this land! 

Hopefully this does not mess up groundwater in Gaza.

I was reading up on Islamic funeral rites, while sitting here with the infusion fuss. 
Even more private/non-commercial than Judaism.

Each family cares for their own deceased, according to gender. They wash, wrap, then prepare the winding sheet. Any ropes you might read about are torn from a winding sheet to keep the wrappings together. 
there is no casket. 

This must be sooooo  confronting in times of war or disaster. 

And a tight time limit, iirc, and all that stony ground.  More to think about in the midst of this catastrophe.  I suppose people just do what they can?

We both share the tight time limits,  and the need to bury (not cremate) into the earth without a casket. For them, always; for us, in Israel. So stony, blasted land is far from ideal.  Also, for both, family and friends present take turns to shovel earth back into the grave while prayers are said. Another reason not to bury in rubble and ruins, or mass graves. 

Thanks for more enlightenment, joanne.  Can't really Like, more Sigh or Hug...

I’m so angry over the lack of insight and empathy being shown to Palestinian elders and parents, very young children throughout this episode… I know the troubles aren’t one-sided, and that one side is particularly gifted at contorting PR to appear terrifying in their case however reality is that younger leaders need to emerge, negotiate and compromise, somehow. Old men’s bitter battles won’t accomplish much apart from more death and hatred, on both sides.