The Bible requires all Jewish males to make a pilgrimage to the Temple on the holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Now two archaeologists, Yotam and Yigal Tepper, believe they have discovered the road used by these pilgrims in Roman times. Robin Ngo writes:

Many different types of roads crossed through Judea in the Roman period. The methodically planned imperial “highways” were standardized across the Roman empire, with milestones placed at fixed intervals listing the names of the builders as well as the distance and destination of the roads. . . . There were also “agricultural roads” that connected settlements with their fields and “rural roads” that connected villages with nearby sites, such as springs.

There is another type of ancient road: the road on which Jews would travel during their Jerusalem pilgrimage. One such road can be found at an upward pass at Beit Horon, about ten miles northwest of Jerusalem. . . . This road comprises curved rock-cut steps measuring five-and-one-half feet in width. Alongside this modest road is a Roman imperial road more than double the width of the pilgrimage road; both led to Jerusalem.

Ron Ben-Yishai explains Hamas’s current calculations:

Strategically speaking, Hamas is hoping to add more and more days to the pause currently in effect, setting a new reality in stone, one which will convince the United States to get Israel to end the war. At the same time, they still have most of the hostages hidden in every underground crevice they could find, and hope to exchange those with as many Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners currently in Israeli prisons, planning on “revitalizing” their terrorist inclinations to even the odds against the seemingly unstoppable Israeli war machine.

Chances are that if pressured to do so by Qatar and Egypt, they will release men over 60 with the same “three-for-one” deal they’ve had in place so far, but when Israeli soldiers are all they have left to exchange, they are unlikely to extend the arrangement, instead insisting that for every IDF soldier released, thousands of their people would be set free.

In one of his last speeches prior to October 7, the Gaza-based Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said, “remember the number one, one, one, one.” While he did not elaborate, it is believed he meant he wants 1,111 Hamas terrorists held in Israel released for every Israeli soldier, and those words came out of his mouth before he could even believe he would be able to abduct Israelis in the hundreds. This added leverage is likely to get him to aim for the release for all prisoners from Israeli facilities, not just some or even most.