"Aggression will end when the hostages are freed."

Argument

Supporters claim that Israel’s military campaign will cease once its hostages are returned. The narrative goes: terrorism ends with the release of captives, aggression is a temporary, targeted response aimed at securing hostages and does not reflect a broader intent toward Gaza’s civilian population.

Counterpoint

Releasing hostages may temporarily pause active fighting, but the conflict’s root causes, settler-colonialism, occupation, blockade, and deep structural inequality, remain unaddressed. Without resolving those systemic issues, hostages’ return simply defers violence, rather than ending it.

Moreover, Hamas consistently ties hostage release to ceasefires and Israeli military withdrawal. Israeli leaders, however, have repeatedly refused to halt operations even when hostages were freed, as seen in past exchanges like Gilad Shalit in 2011 and the 2025 truce, demonstrating that freeing captives does not guarantee an end to military escalation. The war aims extend well beyond hostage recovery.

Spin

  • Conditional pacification: Claims aggression ends post-release ignore ongoing structural violence and political demands.
  • Simplistic cause-effect: Reduces the war to a hostage equation, masking broader military and political objectives.
  • Obscured timeline: Ignores that previous hostage releases, Gilad Shalit (2011) or the 2025 exchange, were followed by continued military offensives.
  • Deflection tactic: Channels public outrage into emotional hostage narratives, diverting attention from occupation and blockade policies.

Sources