This is John Batchel, a conversation with David Diyud of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy

about the number of hostages living and dead and why the Palestinians permit the grotesque display of Hamas

marching with the bodies of dead infants and a dead mother, or brutally torturing men who survive,

but you can see in their eyes and the way they behave on the stage.

They're fearful for everything all the time.

Why? Why is Hamas doing this?

David answers in two fashion, and both of them are unacceptable conduct by civilization,

both of them. Here's David Oud on the abuse of the dead, the abuse of the living by

Hamas. More of this tonight. Well, let me actually issue a correction. Sorry, 24 to 27 living

hostages, according to latest reports, 59 total hostages remaining in Gaza. Why isn't Hamas

released the names? Because they're bargaining chips. Because you want to, first of all, I mean,

there's the bargaining chip element to it. You want to keep the Israelis engaged.

Obviously, Israelis are going to be more engaged for living hostages rather than, you know, corpses, unfortunately.

The second part of it is the psychological warfare that Hamas excelled at, which they continue to engage in against Israeli society.

And we saw this on pretty shameless display with the Bivas kids where everything about the ceremony,

if you want to call it that, the parade of the release of two bodies of infants and their mother

was geared at psychologically harming Israeli society,

kind of getting under Israeli society,

in disrespecting those bodies.

So there is that element.

They want to continue this element of psychological worker against Israeli society.

They also want to keep the pressure up against Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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