Palestinian militant group Hamas warned on Wednesday that hostages may be killed if Israel attempts to retrieve them by force and air strikes continue in the Gaza Strip.
The group said in a statement that it was “doing everything possible to keep the occupation’s captives alive, but the random Zionist (Israeli) bombardment is endangering their lives”.
“Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins,” it said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Wednesday to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release hostages.
Netanyahu told parliament that “the more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert”.
“This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here,” he added, days after his Defence Minister Israel Katz had warned: “The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel”.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel restarted intense air strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip last week followed by ground operations, shattering the relative calm afforded by a January ceasefire with Hamas.
Since Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza, at least 830 Palestinians have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war was sparked by the militant group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 50,183 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry.
Via AFP