"Hans-Jakob Schindler, who currently heads the political non-profit Counter Extremism Project, told DW that Israel was balancing the twin goals of safely releasing the hostages while eradicating Hamas in the Gaza Strip."

"Israel announced Sunday that it had 'eliminated' four senior Hamas military leaders. In this week’s episode of 'The Hunt with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green', Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, elaborates on who these men were."

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, a senior director of the Counter Extremism Project non-profit, told BI that groups like the PIJ may seek to play the situation to its advantage.

'Hamas cannot just order those hostages to be handed over, especially since all of the others understand that the hostages could be very valuable for them as well,' he said."

"The hostage situation has shown that Hamas’ control over Gaza is not absolute, said Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter-Extremism Project, a policy institute based in Washington and Berlin.

Schindler said he believes Hamas enlisted the aid of the PIJ and organized crime groups in Gaza for the raid, but that the groups are competing when it comes to the hostages."

"Al-Ghandour had survived at least three Israeli attempts on his life and was involved in a cross-border attack in 2006 in which Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier, according to the Counter Extremism Project, an advocacy group based in Washington."

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the transatlantic thinktank the Counter Extremism Project, says the situation is .terribly unclear'.

'It's important to note that Islamic Jihad and Hamas don't have a co-operative relationship - they're actually competitors,' he tells Sky News. 'So it's not entirely clear if Hamas can get Islamic Jihad to release any of the hostages it may be holding.

'And it seems it wasn't just them and Hamas involved in the 7 October attack.

'There's been a well-developed smuggling economy in Gaza for decades - long before Hamas took control - organised by networks of crime families.

'So it's possible hostages are neither under the control of Hamas nor Islamic Jihad - but these crime organisations.'"

"According to the Washington-based Counter Extremism project, in addition to being a key figure in the October 7 attacks , Ghandour has been behind a number of terror attacks against Israelis and survived at least two assassination attempts dating back to 2002 and 2012."

"'There’s been a well-developed smuggling economy in Gaza for decades – long before Hamas took control – organised by networks of crime families. So it’s possible hostages are neither under the control of Hamas nor Islamic Jihad – but these crime organisations,' Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the transatlantic thinktank the Counter Extremism Project, told Sky News."