On Friday, Hamas’s armed wing warned that hostages in Gaza were struggling to stay alive as conditions in the war-torn Palestinian territory deteriorated owing to Israeli bombardments.
In a televised statement, the spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida stated, “The wounded and sick enemy prisoners are going through very difficult conditions and are struggling to stay alive”.
“This is not surprising because everything that our people are suffering from, be it hunger, thirst, and lack of medical help, is also what the enemy prisoners are suffering from”, Obeida continued.
This week, mediators from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt met in Cairo to try to broker a deal to cease the fighting and secure the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian captives held by Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated on Thursday that he believed a deal was still possible, although there has been no public announcement of any breakthrough.
Abu Obeida claimed that Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip was to blame for the situation.
“Time is running out fast”, Obeida continued.
Over 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip during the Hamas’ October 7 on Israel, with approximately 130 currently being detained there.
Thirty of them are reported to be dead, while more than 100 were released during a one-week truce that concluded on December 1, 2023.
Three hostages were erroneously killed by Israeli soldiers in December, and some were rescued during military actions.
Several hostages among those currently held captive in Gaza are suffering from a variety of ailments, and efforts have been made to provide them with medicines.
The Hamas’s October 7 strike killed approximately 1,160 Israelis, the majority of whom were civilians.
Since then, Israel’s continuous military raids in Gaza, have killed at least 28,775 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
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