The footage of hostages, many of them teenagers and younger, being seized and driven away crying and pleading with their captors, was as harrowing as the sight of the corpses Hamas left behind.
The slaughter of Israeli civilians on 7 October was intended to strike terror into the Israeli psyche and inflict a lasting wound. The hostage-taking was done for other reasons: as a brake on Israeli retaliation and to trade for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Seven weeks later, it has clearly worked better as a bargaining chip than as a deterrent.
