Hamas has indicated it is currently unable to identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first phase of a ceasefire deal, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the discussions, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than are publicly known.
A temporal attribute has not been included in this statement:
But you have added a temporal qualifier:
I think maybe that’s where the disconnect is? I don’t know. I don’t know who or what you’re arguing against.
The temporal qualifier is inherent in the grammar of the statement. Perhaps you didn’t notice it?
In English, the present perfect continuous has/hasn’t been taking implies a frequent and repeated action since a fixed time in the past - in this case, presumably, the start of the current conflict until now.
Since Hamas only took civilian hostages on one occasion, i.e. October 7th, and not again since, it is not true to say that Hamas “has been taking hostages”. They took hostages. Once.
Israel, on the other hand, have been taking Palestinian civilians captive, repeatedly, since October 7th. That’s the difference.
You’re inferring the start point for the perfect continuous and assigning Oct 7; I’m assigning the start point to be the overall conflict in a broader context. I’m being charitable. I might be wrong, but I can’t read OPs mind so I’m being charitable.
In that case, they would have used the present simple, “Hamas don’t take hostages”, but they didn’t.
I think you simply misunderstood the original statement.
I could be wrong. I’m happy to take the L. Not a hill I want to die on.