TEL AVIV—Zvika Mor's 22-year-old son, Eitan, was taken hostage by militants on Oct. 7. Mor, a father of eight and a life coach for teens with ADHD, expressed his reluctance to support a cease-fire deal that would allow Hamas to survive, even if it meant securing the release of his oldest child.
"I really care about my son," Mor said. "But I understand this is a national issue. We are talking not only about my son's life, but also the lives of millions of people here, including my other kids and grandchildren."
In contrast, Era Ben-Amo Argaman believes the first priority should be releasing the hostages, even if it means leaving Hamas in power to threaten her southern Israeli community, which was overrun by militants on Oct. 7.
"Any price is a good price to bring them home," she said, referring to the hostages, some of whom are the children of her close friends.
Israeli society is divided over how to prioritize the country's two main war aims: destroying Hamas and freeing 130 hostages, including over 30 who are confirmed dead, abducted almost six months ago. While Israel seeks wartime unity, many see the goals as currently irreconcilable.
Most hostages, hidden deep in tunnels, cannot be freed by force, and Hamas is demanding that Israel allow the militant group to survive to secure their release.
"The two aims are clashing with each other, and both can't happen," said Mitchell Barak, a political analyst at the Jerusalem-based Keevoon Global Research.
"There is no side that will be happy here."
The divisions have intensified as Israel negotiates with Hamas, via the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, over a cease-fire that could last six weeks and see the release of 40 Israeli hostages.
These hostages would be women, including female soldiers, children, the elderly, and the sick.
Hamas is demanding that Israel release thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are seen as deadly terrorists in Israel. Hamas also seeks concessions that could allow the group to maintain control over Gaza even after planning and executing the worst attack in Israel's history.
The final deal must be approved by the Israeli cabinet, which includes far-right politicians who say the price of a cease-fire that frees the hostages could be too high. Some have threatened to quit the government if a deal they oppose goes through.
A January poll by the Jerusalem-based think tank the Israel Democracy Institute found that among Israeli Jews, 47% said Israel should prioritize freeing hostages, while 42% said it should prioritize destroying Hamas.
The divide largely falls along ideological lines, with those favoring releasing hostages mostly voting for left-wing or centrist parties, and those preferring to destroy Hamas supporting right-wing and religious parties.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that deciding between freeing hostages and defeating Hamas is not a binary choice but part of the same goal of winning the war. However, analysts say that striking a balance between both camps is both a matter of political survival and a nearly impossible task.
On one side are centrist and left-wing Israelis and most families of the hostages, who have become a political force since the war began and are willing to pay a high price for their freedom.
They argue that the state has a fundamental moral duty to the hostages, which, if breached, would undermine citizens' sense of security for the foreseeable future. They also argue that Hamas can be fought in the future, but the hostages may die in the present.
On the other side, Israel's right-wing largely opposes any deal that allows Hamas to survive and frees thousands of prisoners implicated in terrorist attacks, as they believe it would endanger Israel's national security and the lives of its citizens and soldiers in the future.
They argue that the hostages should be freed by forcing Hamas to release them through military pressure.
If Israel's negotiating team brings back a deal seen as giving the tactical victory to Hamas, Netanyahu's hard-right coalition partners are threatening to leave the government.
If he fails to get a deal to free the hostages, his centrist partners in the emergency government could also leave, leading to protests and demands for elections.
Netanyahu reportedly wants a deal, but his challenge is striking a pact that keeps his current government together and doesn't alienate his political base ahead of likely elections later this year.
In Sderot, near the Gaza border, the mostly right-wing residents interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said they are largely opposed to negotiating with Hamas.
"We need to defeat our enemies through force," said Netanel Abutbul, 22, who recently got married while on break from reserve duty in northern Israel. He moved to Sderot recently, he said, partly to show that Hamas had failed to deter Israelis from living there.
Israelis who oppose the current framework for an agreement often point to a 2011 deal that saw Israel free over a thousand Palestinian prisoners, many serving life sentences for terrorism offenses, in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was taken captive by Hamas.
Among those freed in the deal was Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attacks.
The topic of trading Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages was discussed by Zvika Mor and his son Eitan last year around the Sabbath dinner table in their home in a West Bank settlement. Eitan declared he would never want to be traded for a terrorist, as it would only encourage more kidnapping and violence.
A few months later, Eitan was working at the Nova music festival as a security guard when Hamas attacked, killing hundreds of partygoers and taking him and others hostage.
The conversation mirrored one Zvika had with his wife in 2006 when he told her he didn't want to be traded for Palestinian prisoners if he was captured during a war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
"He thought exactly like me," Zvika said of his son. The Mors are outliers among the families of the hostages, who have been increasing protests aimed at pressuring Netanyahu to accept a deal. On Wednesday, they blocked Israel's main highway in central Tel Aviv.
"It's on you: no returning from Qatar without a deal," read a massive red sign that protesters unfurled along the length of the highway.
"We will continue to block and disrupt as long as the hostages are there—as long as the country goes back to its routine and the government on the other hand is not doing everything to bring them back," said Ayala Metzger, who helped block the highway in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Metzger's mother-in-law was freed as part of November's hostage deal, but her 80-year-old father-in-law remains in Hamas captivity.
Sociologists say the liberal-conservative split in Israel over what price should be paid to free the hostages reflects their fundamental views about the relationship between citizens and the state.
"For many religious people and right-wing Israelis, the group and the state are above the individual. The individual is supposed to serve the group," said Menachem Mautner, a professor in the faculty of law at Tel Aviv University.
"In the minds of Israel's left wing, the state is first and foremost an instrument to preserve our lives."