‘Netanyahu is directly responsible for the death of dozens of the captives because he failed to reach an agreement,’ Hamas said in a statement.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said in a statement on Thursday that the death of six Israeli captives during the time of an airstrike near the place in which they were held demonstrates the failure of the Israeli army to free its captives using force.
Many Israeli captives have been killed while in the Palestinian resistance custody in Gaza, most of them are believed to have been killed by the Israeli army.
Occasionally, the Israeli military has admitted to have directly contributed to the killing of its own captives, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that war is the only way to free them.
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The Israeli army claimed Wednesday that the six hostages whose bodies were found in Gaza over the summer were probably shot dead by their captors in February – around the same time that an Israeli airstrike struck near where they were being held in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Hamas said that the Israeli claims are not true.
“The death of more captives at the hands of their army confirms the failure of Netanyahu’s theory of freeing the captive by force, and that military pressure does not free his hostages, but kills them,” Hamas said in a statement.
“Netanyahu is directly responsible for the death of dozens of the captives because he (Netanyahu) failed to reach an agreement,” the group said.
“There is no alternative to stopping the aggression, withdrawal of the occupation forces, and (reaching) an exchange deal,” the statement added.
Hamas published a video stating that 33 Israeli captives were killed throughout the war.
“By continuing your insane war, you may lose your captives forever. Do what you must do before it is too late,” the caption concluded. pic.twitter.com/rc9XzNuM5c
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 2, 2024
Israel, which according to prisoners’ groups has well over 10,000 Palestinians in its prisons (this number excludes the Gaza detainees – PC), estimates that there are 101 Israeli captives in Gaza.
Hamas had recently said that 33 Israeli captives had been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed due to Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.
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Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,580 Palestinians have been killed, and 105,739 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
