The Islamist group Hamas announced this Friday the death of seven hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Israeli bombings, bringing the total number of kidnapped people killed in captivity since the war began to 70, according to the group's count.
“We tried to keep them alive, but (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on killing them, all seven, by attacks by the Israeli Army,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement.
Hamas confirmed the identity of three of the hostages allegedly killed, the elderly Israelis Haim Peri, Yoram Itak Metzger and Amiram Cooper, of whom weeks ago he already announced that he had no information about their status or whereabouts, having lost contact with the cell that was holding them.
“After examination and verification over the past few 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 said.
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With the seven hostages presumed dead by Hamas, The group raised the total number of kidnapped people who have died in captivity to more than 70 “as a result of military operations by the enemy army”, while Israel has only confirmed the deaths of about 30.
“At the same time, we affirm that the price we will accept for five or ten live prisoners is the same as we would have paid for all the prisoners if they had not died in the enemy's shelling,” Hamas said of the negotiations for a truce agreement.
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We have confirmed the martyrdom of several of our combatants and the murder of seven enemy prisoners in the Strip
This week the talks moved timidly in Doha, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the US, to reach a truce agreement that would allow a new exchange of
hostages by Palestinian prisoners, although the positions remain distant.
Hamas insists that a temporary truce be accompanied by an agreement for a cessation of hostilities in a second phasewhich Israel opposes, and Netanyahu last night called the group's demands “delusional.”
The draft agreement not yet closed contemplates a truce of about six weeks, possibly coinciding with Ramadan that begins on March 10, and an exchange of ten Palestinian prisoners for each hostage.
Since the war began, Israel and Hamas only reached a one-week truce agreement in late November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
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Four hostages were freed 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 eleven hostages have been recovered, three of whom Israeli troops killed by mistake.
According to Israel's count, There are 130 kidnapped people left in the enclave on October 7, around thirty of them confirmed dead by Israeli intelligence; while there are four other captives for years, two of them dead.
EFE
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