[user104658]

Originally Posted by Livia

Yes, it's Israel's fault. Not Hamas's fault for kidnapping them in the first place. They freed a live hostage last week. Maybe you missed it. Had they released the hostages last year there would be a ceasefire now. But they didn't. Did they.

Who said anything about blame? You asked the question "Why aren't they returning the rest of the hostages" and the uncomfortable answer is that most if not all that were still alive (because yes I'm sure some died at the hands of their captors) have probably been killed in the bombing strikes.

It's been insisted endlessly that Palestinian civilian deaths are justified because Hamas have been using them as human shields. Well... if one human shield is acceptable collateral, then so is another. Those hostages were in the way of necessary airstrikes against Hamas so they got blown up. That's how it works, no?