An official of Hamas has said they couldn’t release the Israeli captives it is holding until a ceasefire is agreed in the continuing conflict, according to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.
The newspaper quoted an official called Abu Hamid as saying on Friday that the group needed time to locate all of those who had been taken to Gaza by various Palestinian factions during a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, that prompted the war, reports Al Jazeera.
Abu Hamid, a member of a Hamas delegation that arrived in Moscow on Thursday, said that Hamas announced its intention to release “the civilian prisoners” since the first days of the war.
“Hundreds of citizens and dozens of fighters from various Palestinian factions entered the territories occupied in 1948, and...they captured dozens of people – most of them civilians,” he said.
“We need time to find them in the Gaza Strip and then release them,” the official added.
Abu Hamid also said that the Israeli air raids on Gaza have killed 50 of the captives.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
