Hamas says Israeli airstrikes killed six captives in southern Gaza
A high-ranking official with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says the six Israeli captives found dead in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli airstrikes against the besieged coastal territory.
“The ones who kill our people daily are the Israeli colonizers with American weapons. The captives found in Gaza were not killed by us but by the relentless Zionist bombardment,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, said in a statement on Sunday.
He further criticized the United States, saying, “If President [Joe] Biden truly cares about the lives of Israeli hostages, he should cease his support for this enemy with money and weapons and pressure Israel to end its aggression immediately.”
Rishq emphasized that Hamas had been more concerned about the lives of the hostages than Biden himself, citing Hamas’s agreement to a ceasefire proposal and the UN Security Council’s resolution, both of which were rejected by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier on Sunday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, alleged that Hamas murdered the six captives, whose bodies were found inside a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The Israeli army identified them as 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.
Hamas has offered to release Israeli captives in return for an end to the genocidal war on Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has taken a tough line in Gaza ceasefire negotiations, and repeatedly said that military pressure is needed to bring home the captives.
According to Israeli media, he has feuded with the regime’s high-profile officials who have said a deal should be struck urgently.
Hamas has said that dozens of captives were killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 last year after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.
So far, the regime has killed at least 40,691 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 94,060 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.
42 years since Sabra and Shatila massacre, survivors still remember smell of corpses
In numbers: 345 days of Israeli-American genocidal war on Gaza Strip
Sept. 15: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
UN experts warn Israel ‘a pariah’ over Gaza ‘genocide’
Sinwar says Yemeni missile strike sent clear message to Israel
Iran’s semi-finished steel output hit by electricity cuts
Sanitary conditions in Gaza 'worsening by the day', UNRWA warns
Allegations of weapon transfers by Iran an insult to Yemenis: FM
Snippets from President Pezeshkian’s first press conference since taking office
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
Palestine censures ‘settler terrorism’ after West Bank school attack
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
