Israel (now broader Mid East discussion)

Getting the hostages back was not high on the Israeli states priority list.

That is clear from how many hostages were killed by Israel.
Nor should rescuing hostages be high on their priority list, wonderful if they can be rescued, but unless wonderful can be realized they should be considered among the already dead.

Even if Israelis do accidently kill a hostage in the heat of battle, say during a rescue attempt, that's case of it being on the back of Hamas for their death. No matter who actually shot the gun that killed them, it was Hamas who killed them, they took them hostage in the first place.

That Hamas took hostages in the first place seems to be overlooked in your post. I regard people who take hostages as being bad terrorists.

And now I will point out that their habit of shielding behind their own people is another sign that Hamas are bad terrorists. In effect they are taking their own people as hostages.

Bad people take hostages.