Why “hostages” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
> It’s documented by Haaretz. Are you claiming there is a Haaretz article that states that Hamas was willing to unconditionally give up the civilian hostages after the Oct 7th a…
by jameshilliard · Sep 29, 2026
> Literally on Oct 7, Hamas tried to return civilian hostages, who the IDF killed. This is literally terrorist propaganda, they tried to offer a return of a subset of the hostag…
by jameshilliard · Sep 29, 2026
Citation needed. Since there are plenty of freed hostages that have done interviews, this seems falsified on its face.
by boxed · Sep 29, 2026
Yes, because Hamas routinely does that to lure IDF soldiers. Let’s use occams razor hear. Option A - mistaken identity because the enemy wears no uniform, embeds itself in civil…
by halflife · Sep 29, 2026
That is completely incorrect. The terrorists that were put in charge of these hostages fled and left them alone in a war zone. They were definitely NOT released. They were kille…
by halflife · Sep 29, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "hostages" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "hostages" over time.
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm or death to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines a hostage as "a person who is handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war." Read more on Wikipedia