The Dire Plight of Israeli Hostages

On October 7th Hamas militants stormed into Israel, launching a campaign of rape and murder that they nation never witnessed and ultimately committing the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.   In addition to slaughtering over 1200 Jews, Hamas captured hundreds of Hostages and took them into Gaza.  The following month, Israel managed to secure the release of 105 of these hostages and later rescued two more hostages in February.  However, after nearly eight months of war with Hamas, many Israelis now fear that the chances of getting any more hostages home alive are growing increasingly slim.  Presently, it is believed that of the remaining 124 that only 81 are believed to have any possibility of still being alive.  Tragically, the remaining 43 are confirmed to be dead, and the actual number of dead hostages is likely to higher.  

In April of 2024, the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas fell apart, the reason being was that Hamas claimed that they were unable to locate 40 living hostages in Gaza in order to arrange the necessary exchanges.  This announcement sent waves of fear throughout Israel, fear that most of those taken hostage are no longer alive.  Over the last few weeks, it seems that this fear is becoming reality.   On May 17th the Israeli military confirmed that they located the body of Shani Louk,  The 22-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist was the victim lying twisted & dead in the pickup truck as Hamas militants took her body back to Gaza.  This photo shocked the world and showed just how widespread and brutal the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7th truly was.  

Shani Louk's Funeral Service

Hundreds of people came out to pay tribute at Shani Louk's funeral, but tragically, this is not the only hostage funeral that has been happening in recent weeks.  Shani Louk's body wasn't the only one that was found.  The IDF confirmed that the bodies of Amit Buskila, a 28-year-old woman, & Itzhak Gelerenter, a 56-year-old man, were also found along with Shani Louk's body.  With each passing day, more reports about the conditions of the hostages kept coming in, and all the reports that are arriving are the same: they're dead.  

On May 24, Israel recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Jabalia Camp in Northern Gaza.  On June 03, it was confirmed that the bodies of four additional were located.  For many Israeli families, there is a growing feeling that any chance of getting the remaining hostages home alive is gone.  Tragically, some of these hostages may very well have suffered a fate even worse then death.

Hostages Video

In recent weeks Israelis families authorized the public release of a video of their daughters being kidnapped & brutalized by Hamas terrorists.  The shocking video displayed five young teenage girls bloodied & beaten as Hamas tied them up and forced them into Gaza.  As they did this, you could see that the hostages had their Achillies Heels slashed to prevent them from trying to run away.  All the while some of the militants threaten to shoot them and other militants made statements on how beautiful the girls were and how they could get pregnant.  It was very clear what that man's intentions were, he wanted these women to be sex slaves.  Why did the Hamas militants believe that such an abomination was justified?  The reason is because of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, sanctioned it.  The tragic truth is that this is a long-standing practice done by Jihadists all the way back to the time of Muhammad in 7th century Arabia.  There are numerous verses in the Qur'an in which "sex slavery" is justified.  

• Surah 23:6:-"Successful indeed are those believers who guard their private parts except from their wives or those whom their right hand possess."
• Surah 70:30-"Worshippers guard their private parts except from their wives and from those whom their right hands posses; such indeed, are not to blame.  
• Surah 4:24-"Forbidden for you are women already married, except such as your right hand possess.  Allah has enjoined this on you.

These Qur'anic verses seem to clearly justify that women, even married women, can be taken as "spoils of war," but is there a way we can be certain of this?  The answer to that can be found in the Islamic Hadith, which provides the context in which the Qur'anic verses were revealed.  

• Sahih Muslim 8.3432-"At the Battle of Hunain, Allah's Messenger sent an arm to Autas and fought with the enemy.  Having overtaken them and taken them captives, companions of Allah refrained from having intercourse with captive women because of their polytheist husbands.  Then Allah Most High send down the Qur'anic verse: Surah 4:24"
• Sunan Abu Daud 11.2150-"The Apostle of Allah sent a military expedition to Autas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. They met their enemy and fought with them. They defeated them and took them captives. Some of the Companions of Apostle of Allah were reluctant to have relations with the female captives because of their pagan husbands. So, Allah the exalted sent down the Qur’anic verse “And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hand posses.” 
• Sahih Bukhari 5.59.459-"We went out with Allah's Apostle for the Ghazwa of Banu Al-Mustaliq and we received captives from among the Arab captives and we desired women and celibacy became hard on us and we loved to do coitus interruptus. So when we intended to do coitus interrupt us, we said, 'How can we do coitus interruptus before asking Allah's Apostle who is present among us?" We asked (him) about it and he said, 'It is better for you not to do so, for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist."  
• Essentially, this verse stated that Muhammad's men feared having intercourse with the captive women because they feared getting them pregnant.  Muhammad stated it was "Allah's Will" to determine whether or not the women get pregnant.
• Sahih Muslim 8.3371 expanded on this context by stating that Muhammad's companions didn't want to get the captive women pregnant because they planned to sell them later.  

I cannot even begin to imagine what happened to these women once they were in Gaza.  Having heard previous testimonies of Yazidis and other women who were rape victims of Jihadists, death would have been preferable to many of these rape victims.  Even if by some miracle these women are still alive, they could be suffering an unimaginable fate, while the world continues to deceive themselves into believe that Devils like this can be reasoned with.  

Sources:

"Israeli Army Finds Bodies of Three Hostages in Gaza killed at Oct. 07 Music Festival."  ABC7Chicago.  May 17, 2024.  Accessed from https://abc7chicago.com/post/hostages-israeli-army-finds-bodies-of-itzik-gelernter-shani-louk-and-amit-buskila-in-gaza-killed-at-oct-7-music-festival/14832935/.

"Israel Rescues Two Hostages in Rafah Amid Deadly Strikes."  BBC.  Feb. 12, 2024.  Accessed from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68271340.

Izso, Lauren and Larry Register.  "IDF Tells Families of 4 Israeli Hostages Held in Gaza 'They are No Longer Alive."  CNN.  June 03, 2024.  Accessed from https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/03/middleeast/israeli-hostages-dead-intl-latam/index.html.

Marquardt, Alex and Jerry Diamond.  "Hamas Tells Negotiators it Doesn't Have 40 Israeli Hostages Needed for First Round of Ceasefire."  CNN.  April 10, 2024.  Accessed from https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/10/middleeast/hamas-israel-hostages-ceasefire-talks-intl/index.html.

Sanchez, Raf & Chantal Da Silva.  "Israeli Military Recovers the Bodies of 3 More Hostages Killed on Oct. 7th from Gaza."  NBC.  May 24, 2024.  Accessed from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israeli-military-recovers-bodies-3-hostages-killed-oct-7-gaza-hamas-rcna153869.

Spiro, Amy.  "8 Israeli Hostages Freed from Gaza at End of Seventh Day Truce."  The Times of Israel.  Nov. 30, 2023.  Accessed from https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-frees-2-israeli-women-with-6-8-more-set-for-return-thursday-alongside-3-bodies/.