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The Difference Between a Prisoner of War and a Hostage
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
Typically, when the fog of war lifts and one side seems to be the victor, the defeated combatants surrender and the warring parties return their prisoners of war to each country.
However, the war Hamas initiated against Israel’s civilian population on October 7 — the atrocities they committed, and their taking of hundreds of hostages — was anything but typical.
At the outset, it is important to note the difference between a prisoner of war (POW) and a hostage.
According to the Geneva Convention, a POW is a captured combatant protected by international humanitarian law, who the warring parties must release and repatriate without delay once hostilities have ceased.
A hostage, however, is a non-combatant seized by criminals and terrorists. Their purpose is to extort concessions and force others to comply with their demands.
Israel takes prisoners of war; Hamas and their Palestinian Arab enablers take hostages.
The rules of war, as defined by the Geneva Convention, have not changed — but the nature of war has.
The goal of the Geneva Convention was to limit the effects of armed conflict and to minimize suffering and protect non-combatants. Key principles include targeting only military objectives, not civilians; proportionality to avoid excessive harm to civilians; and prohibiting unnecessary suffering and inhumane treatment. Hamas and its supporters not only break every one of these rules, but they purposely contravene each one of them as part of their strategy of terror.
The inhumane tactics they employ are not new; they hearken back thousands of years when the Torah records an event of abject cowardice and cruelty: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how they surprised you on the road and cut off all the weak people at your rear, when you were parched and weary, and they did not fear G‑d.” (Devarim 25:17)
Today’s version of Amalek are the inhumane terrorists of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists, who routinely employ hostage taking as a weapon. The hostages they seize are not only civilians, but include the most vulnerable of persons such as seniors, the disabled, children, and infants.
The radical Islamic terrorists of Hamas target civilians as hostages, knowing full well that Israel’s citizenry will place tremendous pressure on its administration for the return of the innocent hostages. And because Hamas knows that Israelis and Jews value life above all else, they insist on keeping civilian hostages, as they serve as both an insurance policy and not-so-secret weapon.
The barbaric cruelties Hamas and their Palestinian Arab terrorist allies visited upon Israel, is proof-positive that evil abides by no rules and knows neither bounds nor boundaries.
There is an expression in Hebrew, Ein Breira, “there is no choice” — and this applies to dealing with the kinds of evil Hamas wreaked upon Israel on Oct 7. There is no choice but to eliminate the will and capabilities of Hamas and their radical Palestinian Arab collaborators who wish to deny the Jewish people their basic right to life.
Since retiring from IBM, Steve Wenick has served as a freelance book reviewer for HarperCollins Publishing and Simon & Schuster. His reviews and articles have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Algemeiner, Times of Israel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Attitudes Magazine, and The Jewish Voice of Southern New Jersey.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.