Hamas seized approximately 250 hostages in the October 7 attack.
Jerusalem:
Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday it would not make any compromises as the movement demands that Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza to ensure the release of hostages seized in an Oct. 7 attack.
“Our first priority in reaching a prisoner exchange agreement is a complete commitment to the cessation of aggression and the withdrawal of enemy troops, without any compromise,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigade, said in a televised statement.
Hamas also wants to “provide relief to our people, allow displaced people to return to their homes and rebuild,” Abu Obeida said, while warning of imminent famine in the war-torn region.
The statement came as hopes of a renewed truce dimmed in the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by an unprecedented attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel on October 7.
Mediators have been trying to reach a truce ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts as early as Sunday according to the lunar calendar.
A Hamas delegation expressed dissatisfaction with Israel’s response to its demands and left the latest round of talks in Cairo on Thursday to instead consult with Hamas leaders in Qatar.
Hamas has been demanding that Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza, but Israel has refused to do so.
Hamas seized about 250 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack, some of whom were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes that 99 hostages in the Gaza Strip are still alive, and 31 of them have died.
Any new truce is expected to involve the exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory military operations to destroy Hamas have resulted in the deaths of at least 30,878 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry of Hamas-controlled areas.
Abu Obeida also called on Friday for “our people” to mobilize and “crawl toward” the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a flashpoint for violence during Ramadan in past years.
US President Joe Biden warned this week that without a truce before Ramadan, “Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous”.
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