Kuala Lampur, Oct. 6 -- The international community must temper its expectations.

Neither Asean nor the broader world can realistically expect all captives in Gaza - or the remains of the dead - to be released immediately. The terrain, the destruction, and the fragile state of ceasefire arrangements make such hopes not only premature but also dangerously misleading.

Geography and control

Gaza is no longer a single, continuous space of governance.

The captives are scattered across a war-torn labyrinth: some in northern enclaves now controlled by Israeli forces, others in central or southern pockets still under varying degrees of Palestinian control.

The once-integrated underground tunnel network has been fractured by months of bombard...