I can't quite agree that the first release of hostages came from negotiation alone. It was very high military pressure that caused Hamas to want a ceasefire even if only a short one which they negotiated by releasing some of the hostages. But without that military pressure they would have had no reason to do it the hostages were safety net. As they become less and less of a safety net and the more Angry Hamas becomes it is very likely some people will just be killed out of hand. And that's part of the reason why it's even more important to make more rescues because moods could change at any moment. Notice how nobody who has a problem with this rescue had any problem with Hamas playing mind games with people by showing you footage of someone talking to you and then showing their dead body, or showing three people and saying two were dead and then making you wait to find out who it is. They never talk about how cruel that is because they never care.

As far as an end date, there has to be one because IDF has been able to systematically destroy or capture most of the battalions now. I believe they're now down to four out of the original 20 which is very promising. They're moving more slowly now overall but there still seem to be sporadic moments where they have these larger victories if the international news is any indication. I'm not really sure it will last more than 3 months if they continue to find high level intelligence.