A senior Hamas leader said the Islamist militant group captured enough Israeli soldiers and civilian hostages during a shock attack on Israel on Saturday to free all Palestinian prisoners in the country’s jails.
“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting continues,” Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
He said high-ranking 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 around 1,000 wounded.
Hamas militants celebrate airstrikes against Israel on Saturday. AP A senior Hamas leader said the Islamist militant group captured enough Israeli soldiers and civilian hostages during a shock attack on Israel. AP The Islamist militant group captured Israeli citizens in exchange for releasing all Palestinian prisoners in the country’s jails. AP
Al-Arouri declined to provide the total number of hostages captured during the attack, but the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed to have captured “dozens” of Israelis in a Telegram post, CNN reported.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
“Our detainees in [Israeli] In prisons, their freedom takes on great importance,” Al-Arouri said. “What we have in our hands will free all our prisoners. “The longer the fighting lasts, the greater the number of prisoners.”
“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting continues,” said Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau.AP
According to the latest figures from Addameer, a nonprofit organization that defends prisoners’ rights, nearly 5,200 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons, including 33 women and 170 minors.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that a “substantial” number of soldiers and civilians were taken hostage, but did not provide specific details.
It did say that Hamas was holding “dozens” of hostages at a kibbutz in the southern part of the country, while others had been taken to Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: how we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches largest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 600 Israelis have been killed, more than 2,150 wounded and 100 taken hostage and the death toll is expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking women hostage and parading them down the street in gruesome videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report that at least 300 Palestinians have been killed and 2,200 wounded.
Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian, center, from Kibbutz Kfar Azza to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, October 7, 2023.AP
It is unclear how many hostages, both military and civilian, were captured by Hamas, although early reports on Saturday put the number at 52.
News photos showed elderly women being carried away by Hamas militants in golf carts, and young women, bloodied from attacks, piled into vehicles packed with men.
The Israeli military launched major airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in retaliation, killing at least 198 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more, according to reports from the Palestinian health authority.
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