Hamas said on Friday (1st) that seven hostages it held in the Gaza Strip had died as a result of Israeli bombings, reportedly bringing to 70 the total number of people in captivity killed since the start of the war, according to the group's count. terrorist.
“We try to keep them alive, but [o primeiro-ministro
israelense] Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on killing all seven through attacks by the Israeli Army,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement.
Israel has not commented on the information for now. However, Hamas and allied groups have a history of lying about the hostage situation. In November, Hannah Katzir was one of the hostages released during a week-long truce after Islamic Jihad claimed she had been killed during an Israeli bombing raid.
Hamas said that three of the hostages allegedly killed were the elderly Israelis Haim Peri, Yoram Itak Metzger and Amiram Cooper, about whom it had already stated for weeks that it had no information about their condition or whereabouts, having lost contact with the cell that held them. in captivity.
“After examination and verification in recent weeks, we have confirmed the martyrdom of several of our fighters and the murder of seven enemy prisoners in the Strip as a result of the Zionist bombing. We will announce the names of the other four deceased after confirming their identities,” Obeida added.
With the seven hostages declared dead by Hamas, the terrorist group raised to more than 70 the total number of hostages who would have died in captivity “as a result of military operations by the enemy army”, while Israel only confirmed the death of around 30, without take responsibility for these deaths.
“At the same time, we affirm that the price we will accept for five or ten living prisoners is the same as what we would have paid for all the prisoners if they had not died in enemy bombings,” Hamas highlighted, in reference to negotiations for a truce agreement. .
During this week, negotiations advanced timidly in Doha, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to reach a truce agreement that would allow a new exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, although the positions remain far apart.
Hamas insists that a temporary truce be accompanied by an agreement to cease hostilities in a second phase, which Israel opposes, with Netanyahu calling the group's demands “illusory” last night.
The draft agreement that has not yet been finalized includes a truce lasting around six weeks, possibly coinciding with Ramadan, which begins on March 10, and an exchange of ten Palestinian prisoners for each hostage.
Since the start of the war, Israel and Hamas only reached a week-long truce agreement in late November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Additionally, four hostages were released by Hamas in October; three rescued by the Army – two of them a few weeks ago in a successful operation in Rafah -; while the bodies of 11 hostages were recovered, three of whom were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops.
According to Israel's count, 130 people kidnapped on October 7 remain in the enclave, around 30 of them confirmed dead by Israeli intelligence; while there are still other hostages from previous years, two of them dead.
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