On March 21, 2025, Bayda’ Al-Muwahideen, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) channel on Telegram, posted an article titled, “The Jewish Hostages: Are They a Card in Hamas’ Hand or a Card in the Jews’ Hand?” In it, the channel asserts that the “genocide” and destruction in Gaza provs that the dossier of hostages is without a doubt a card in Israel’s hand, used to kill Muslims on the pretext of seeking to rescue hostages.
The channel argues that Israel has no intention of giving up the hostages card, while justifying the resumption of its “devastating war” to drive Gazan civilians out of the Gaza Strip, with Hamas’s “stubbornness” in freeing the remaining hostages.
With Hamas’s Intransigeance, Israel Has No Intention To Relinquish Hostage Card Too Quickly
The piece states: “Despite the break in fighting to conduct an alleged prisoner swap deal, the Jews showed no intention to relinquish such a card too quickly. They have another goal: wage a violent war on the defenseless people of Gaza to force them to demand an exit from Gaza, even to a valley with no crops or water.”
According to Bayda’ Al-Muwahideen, the war yielded no meaningful outcome except for serving the displacement plan, whether people knew it or not. Resuming the war on Gaza can only happen with Hamas’s intransigence on the hostage issue.
Hamas’s Weapons Have Been “Directed At Muslims For Years”
Discussing “what may be” other reasons behind Israel’s resumption of war in Gaza, the channel rejects the argument that one of the reasons is Hamas’s refusal to surrender its weapons: “Hamas’s weapons have not truly served Muslims. Hamas’s weapons have always been directed at Muslims for years – as has been the case with all tyrannical governments.”
Additionally, the channel criticized Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel as “nothing but a political setback and reckless rashness,” adding: “Hamas’ reasoning rhymes with that of the Muslim Brotherhood, often devoid of foresight or the jurisprudence of balance.”
Addressing why Hamas has not made a settlement with Israel, as Hizbullah did in southern Lebanon, based on the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule of preserving good and fending off harm, the channel claims that Hamas embraces a “fluid, rubbery, flexible methodology.” Hamas seeks a form of jihad that combines the jihad of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad with the jihad embraced by the Iranian Shi’ite bloc and the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology, according to the channel.
“What Is The Hostage Card Good For, Except For Further Destruction And Calamity?”
In a related post, on March 21, the channel asserted that the hostage issue’s impact on Muslims in Gaza was damaging. Gaza has been completely demolished, and countless people killed, their honor desecrated, and their property looted and destroyed.
The channel condemned Hamas for insisting on keeping the hostage card rather than avert such a terrible outcome in Gaza, as Israel had incarcerated many times more Gazans than hostages taken by Hamas: “You want to release a thousand Muslim prisoners, at best, in exchange for tens of thousands of dead and many times that number of wounded! Not counting the continuing destruction and calamity.”