Ever since the hostage situation took center stage with the ceasefire and negotiations, it seems to me that Israel gave up the stronger proactive hand and has been playing catch up. Israel has been reacting to Hamas. Israel has been managed by Hamas (and perhaps other powers). Hamas has been mainly managing the narrative and managing the situation. What Hamas demands, Israel does.

I get it. Israel wants the hostages back, so we do what we must. It is one of the main objectives of the war. It is one of the most important things on the table for Israelis.

Because it, because we are letting Hamas control the situation, the tables have turned. We havent and arent losing the war, but the tides are turning - the ceasefire is likely to be extended, every time Hamas plays a game we just take it, once the ceasefire is going for 6,7, 8, 10, 12 days, the world wont be so quick to give Israel a long leash again for restarting the war at the same scale it was at before. We are reacting to everything Hamas demands and to the games Hamas plays.

Israel needs to take back control of the narrative. Yes, we want the hostages back, but Hamas also wants things from us. They want Palestinian prisoners released. They want quiet in gaza with some time to breath and regroup. They want us to not fly over northern Gaza for parts of the day so they can "look for more hostages".... they want things from us, so we can play games with them, we can make demands. Israel needs to stop responding to Hamas and must take control of the narrative. make our demands. Say no extension, go back to blowing things up and killing terrorists and make an offer that Hamas will have to respond to. Make the offers, dont accept the offers, and blow them up until they do. 

it is all about who controls the narrative, and right now Hamas does. Israel has to take that back.