‘If we don’t act now, the hostages will starve to death and Gaza will remain under Hamas’s control.’ Benny Avni is a columnist who has published in the New York Post, WSJOpinion, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Israel Radio, Ha’Aretz, and others. Once New York Sun, always New York Sun.

The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives.