Israeli forces are likely to find even more hostages as its operational control grows over Gaza, Caroline Glick, a former senior policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Newsmax on Wednesday, commenting on the discovery of a hostage found alive and alone in a tunnel Tuesday.
"What we're seeing with them being able to get him in a tunnel is that we're getting more and more free in our movement inside of the tunnels so that we're able to go through the tunnels fairly freely and be able to seek out and see what's there," Glick said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
Israeli forces on Tuesday rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, one of eight members of Israel's Bedouin Arab minority who Hamas terrorists abducted on Oct. 7. He was found alone in a southern Gaza tunnel.
Glick said that there are conflicting reports, but the man's guards "apparently disappeared."
This means that the more Israel operates inside Gaza, the more chances are that other hostages will be rescued, she said.
Special forces had been deployed to the tunnels to search for hostages after reports that some were being held in the area, but the operation did not specify that Alkadi was in the tunnel, she added.
"It was serendipitous because of the operational control that we hold over Gaza, which just shows how important it is for Israel to maintain a very, very high tempo of operations in Gaza and not relent," Glick said. "The more we strike them, the more ground we take, the more we control, the more the price, the greater the prospects of finding hostages and getting them home alive."
There have also been reports that hostages remain who aren't "being particularly well guarded," which also adds hope that Israel will be able to get more of them out alive, said Glick.
Meanwhile, the prospect of reaching a cease-fire deal relies on Israel's operations in Gaza, Glick said.
"Hamas only made the deal in November to release a number of the children and the elderly and the women because Israel was crushing them," she said. "Israel was crushing Hamas installations, its bases, and was killing its leaders at such a high level, with such high intensity that they decided that they better give us our children back."
But Hamas also thinks it's a good idea to keep the hostages because they are "rewarded," with the United States trying to mediate, demanding humanitarian aid, and by college protests continuing while the hostages remain in custody, said Glick.
"They're sort of an insurance policy," she said, adding that, for that to change, the United States must support Israel in "crushing Hamas," and for Israel to go in and finish the job.
"The problem is the push to getting a deal at all costs only empowers Hamas, raises their negotiating stance, and makes it more difficult to get a deal, and as we see right now, it's impossible to do so," Glick said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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