Benjamin Netanyahu Just Said “From the River to the Sea”, rejects the premise of a Palestinian state and promised that Israel will take over the entire region it currently occupies
Having hostages gives Gaza slightly more hope for when the war ends. And not surrendering means they can at least prevent Israel from occupying all of Gaza.
Other than international outrage or intervention what would prevent Israel from occupying all of Gaza? Doesn’t Israel outnumber 20:1 in terms of population, and outgun 2024 to 1970 in terms of technology?
They outnumber them 3:1, but that aside: Guerilla warfare, probably. No matter how technologically advanced you are, it's very hard to occupy a population that doesn't want you there, so it'd depend on how long the West is willing to fund Israel's Afghanistan.