Three hostage bodies remaining: possibility of recovering all. Reporter Tamir Morag says Hamas isn’t defeated enough.

Yesterday a hostage body that was transferred over was confirmed to be a victim of the October 7th attack. As of today three hostage bodies remain in Gaza.

Today a Channel 14 reporter Tamir Morag posted on his X that for the first time, Israeli officials now believe all remaining hostage bodies can be recovered.

Last night we reported on Channel 14 that, for the first time, Israeli officials now believe it may be possible to recover all of the fallen hostages — every last one of them. This is a phenomenal, almost incomprehensible achievement by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Morag goes on to say however the war is largely left in an unfinished state.

At the same time, we also reported last night that more than two years after the war began, the IDF assesses that close to two-thirds of Hamas's tunnel network is still intact. This comes in addition to figures published by our military correspondent @BittonRosen, indicating that Hamas still retains roughly 20,000 terrorists, around 10,000 rifles, and thousands of rocket propelled grenades.

The figure I’ve heard is 60% of tunnels is estimated to remain. But it’s also believed 80% of attack tunnels have been destroyed.

Also that a large degree of the Hamas fighting force are basically new recruits (maybe a year at this point?). They are young. They look scrawny. The rifles are also older rifles. The quality of Hamas rifles have gotten less modern.

Most of Hamas was defeated. They started off with 40-50k soldiers. They were defeated then got like 10-15k new recruits according to what I remember from Google. To be honest, if these troops go down, I think they’d just get more. Around 40-50% of Gaza’s population is under 18. Within three years is probably a whole new fighting force. Hamas was in power like 16 years with their own education system.

This is not a total victory, and it is very far from the stated war goal of eliminating Hamas's military and governing capabilities. I tend to believe that, ultimately, Netanyahu will realize this goal. This is a complex campaign that requires patience, and the tendency to ascribe to Netanyahu an inability to grasp things that seem obvious to us often proven wrong.

But there are also troubling signs: increasingly, I am hearing from people the Prime Minister consults with and values that "we've already defeated Hamas," and that the organization "no longer exists." (To be clear — I have not heard this from anyone who actually works with the Prime Minister.)

Many of the Hamas leaders have been killed. But others are in Turkey and Qatar, I’ve heard. Since also before the war.

This is self-deception. Even if Hamas cannot currently repeat the October 7 massacre, it still poses a threat. More importantly: abandoning a clearly defined war objective is the beginning of a slippery slope toward conceding to the enemy in exchange for short-term quiet. There will never be a "convenient time" to eliminate Hamas — and the monster will grow back; and that's without even mentioning the message that allowing Hamas to remain in power would send across the entire axis of evil, which Israel has worked so hard to dismantle.

I think there were two points during the war when there was ceasefire (was there?). The latest was a ceasefire of January ro March this year. But it was considered then (I think? Or was it before then?) that Hamas was not sufficiently degraded and neither was the ring of fire around Israel. There was the 12 day war in June with Iran. Multiple fronts also, five to seven fronts across different countries. Some militia like Hezbollah is considered degraded but also on the re-up. There is a desire to disarm Hezbollah by December 31st.

There is no victory in the war while Hamas is still standing — and not even while it's merely on its knees. We will not accept such delusion, and more importantly — history will not accept it. I want to believe, and still believe, that the Prime Minister — the son of a historian and a man with a deeply developed historical consciousness of his own — understands this.

Netanyahu is the son of a historian? That’s cool. It’s said that Trump and the US wanted the war to be over, so it’s over. Trump tried to say off record in a time magazine phone interview last month that he didn’t know if Netanyahu was ever going to end the war. In an interview the next day Netanyahu said to CBS News that public opinion would change with Israel once the war is over.

US resolutions are already going forward to the UN about creating international stabilization force. Post war Gaza. While IDF forces also convene to summarize the war. And at IDF graduations present a vision for a need for 12,000 troops for multiple fronts. I think one speaker said something about the war winding down.

I think the chances for going into direct conflict with Hamas has shrunk already. Do people in Israel still think war in Gaza (soldiers going into Gaza) is still possible? I don’t know if that’s what Tamir is advocating here. Personally I think the window has closed.

To me it seems like Hamas wants Hezbollah model. And also that they are likely to get Hezbollah model. Pessimistically thinking. What do you think?

I don’t know. It’s probably wrong for the prime minister’s to say Hamas is already defeated or no longer exists. Is it also pretend though to think Netanyahu can do something about it? I don’t understand what Tamir Morag wants him to do that he actually can do.