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199 hostages are held in Gaza by Hamas, according to Israeli govt. (Al Jazeera Live today). There are 5,200 Palestinians, inc 33 women & 170 children, currently in Israeli incarceration, many convicted of civic offenses such as printing flyers and waving flags - i.e. political prisoners as defined by Amnesty International. Children are often brutalised and charged as adults. 1264 Palestinians are held in administrative detention without any due process or charge.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/8/why-are-so-many-palestinian-prisoners-in-israeli-jails
This is not at all to minimise the obvious suffering for those taken hostage and those who love them, or to whatabout the crime of taking them in the first place. It is to give vital causal and proportional context and to challenge the terminology of Palestinians taking Israeli civilians as "kidnapping" if the word used for Palestinians held for noncrimes or no charge is "arrest" or "sentenced".
In a stark example of the different value placed on Palestinian and Israeli life, it should be noted that 1027 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for just 1 Israeli soldier in 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit_prisoner_exchange
I will say that if the Israeli government were outright committed to the safe return of the hostages they would negotiate; they would not air strike with such abandon and starve all in the area. Clearly this exacerbates the risk to life including that of the hostages.