Hamas captured enough Israelis during shock attack to swap for all jailed Palestinians: leader
A senior Hamas leader said that the Islamist militant group captured enough Israeli soldiers and civilian hostages during a shock attack on Israel Saturday to free all Palestinian prisoners in the country’s jails.
“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on,” said Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau, in an interview with Al Jazeera.
He claimed that senior officers were among those captured and killed during the early morning attack, the worst in 50 years, which left at least 200 Israelis dead and about 1,000 injured.
Al-Arouri refused to provide the total number of hostages captured during the attack, but Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed to have captured “dozens” of Israelis in a Telegram post, CNN reported.
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“Our detainees in [Israeli] prisons, their freedom is looming large,” Al-Arouri said. “What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become.”
According to the latest figures by Addameer, a prisoners’ rights non-profit, nearly 5,200 Palestinians are in Israeli jails, including 33 women and 170 minors.
The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that a “substantial” number of soldiers and civilians were taken hostage, but did not release specifics.
It did say that “dozens” of hostages were being held by Hamas at a kibbutz in the southern part of the country while others had been taken into Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
Over 200 Israelis are dead and at least 1,500 injured with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking female hostages and parading them down the street in horrifying videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report 230 Palestinians have been killed with over 1,700 injured.
It is not clear how many hostages — both military and civilian — had been captured by Hamas although early reports on Saturday put the number at 52.
News wire photos showed elderly women being taken by Hamas militants in golf carts, and young women, bloodied from the attacks, being piled into vehicles full of men.
The Israeli military launched major air raids on the Gaza Strip in retaliation, killing at least 198 Palestinians and wounding hundreds of others, according to reports from the Palestinian health authority.
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