Reports surfaced about hostages initially held by Hamas being moved to southern Gaza. These claims appeared in a post on a blog associated with the platform Bottom Stack, authored by American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh.
Hersh asserted that Israeli intelligence indicated the hostages, much like residents of Gaza City, were relocated southward as part of a broader forced migration linked to Israeli actions in the area. He added that Israeli authorities were angered by doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City who, according to his account, assisted in the removal of hostages.
Earlier, leaders in Israel suggested there were serious indications that Hamas was keeping hostages at Al-Shifa Hospital. This development coincided with a broader escalation in the region following the October 7 cross-border infiltration by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip. The group announced the initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare that Israel was at war.
Israel’s stated objective in its response, framed as Operation Iron Sword, was to repel the attack, secure the release of more than 200 hostages including foreign nationals, and dismantle Hamas. To pursue these goals, Israel conducted extensive rocket strikes on targets within the Gaza Strip on the first day of the operation. The Israeli National Security Council also decided to restrict the flow of essential resources into Gaza, cutting off water, food, goods, electricity, and fuel to the territory. Humanitarian aid shipments began to move toward Gaza through the Rafah crossing only after October 20, with officials noting that the aid volume was insufficient to meet the needs on the ground.
On October 27, Israel announced what it described as an expansion of its ground operation in Gaza. While the exact start date of the expanded operation remained unclear, reports indicated that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had already fled their homes and sought shelter in safer areas to the south. The broader campaign intensified as the conflict drew in multiple international actors and drew widespread attention to civilian hardship in Gaza.
In the public frame, Israeli leaders continued to emphasize a determination to defeat Hamas and secure the release of hostages. The evolving situation highlighted the enduring and deeply complex tensions between security imperatives and humanitarian concerns in the region.