"Hans-Jakob Schindler, a senior director of the Counter Extremism Project non-profit, told BI that groups like the PIJ may seek to play the situation to its advantage.

'Hamas cannot just order those hostages to be handed over, especially since all of the others understand that the hostages could be very valuable for them as well,' he said."

"The hostage situation has shown that Hamas’ control over Gaza is not absolute, said Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter-Extremism Project, a policy institute based in Washington and Berlin.

Schindler said he believes Hamas enlisted the aid of the PIJ and organized crime groups in Gaza for the raid, but that the groups are competing when it comes to the hostages."

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the transatlantic thinktank the Counter Extremism Project, says the situation is .terribly unclear'.

'It's important to note that Islamic Jihad and Hamas don't have a co-operative relationship - they're actually competitors,' he tells Sky News. 'So it's not entirely clear if Hamas can get Islamic Jihad to release any of the hostages it may be holding.

'And it seems it wasn't just them and Hamas involved in the 7 October attack.

'There's been a well-developed smuggling economy in Gaza for decades - long before Hamas took control - organised by networks of crime families.

'So it's possible hostages are neither under the control of Hamas nor Islamic Jihad - but these crime organisations.'"

"'There’s been a well-developed smuggling economy in Gaza for decades – long before Hamas took control – organised by networks of crime families. So it’s possible hostages are neither under the control of Hamas nor Islamic Jihad – but these crime organisations,' Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the transatlantic thinktank the Counter Extremism Project, told Sky News."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a smaller, but older terror group that operates in the Palestinian territories...Coming out of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, but very quickly developing very strong relationships to Iran. Its traditional base is in Jenin...but of course it is now operating primarily in Gaza at this moment."

"'The group’s ideology blends Islamism and Palestinian nationalism and seeks the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River...Hamas views the entirety of the land of Mandate Palestine—excluding the 80 percent of Palestine that became modern-day Jordan—as an Islamic birthright that has been usurped. To that end, Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and has dedicated itself to violently seeking Israel’s destruction,' says think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP) about Hamas."

"'PIJ is dedicated to eradicating Israel and establishing an autonomous Islamic Palestinian state in the lands currently comprising Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. PIJ believes that the land of Palestine is consecrated for Islam, that Israel usurped Palestine, and, therefore, that Israel is an affront to God and Islam and that Palestine’s re-conquest is a holy task,' notes think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP), adding that the PIJ does not participate in the political process."