During Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, approximately 250 hostages were taken to Gaza. (document)
Palestinian territories:
The armed wing of Hamas said on Friday that hostages in Gaza were “struggling to survive” as conditions in the war-torn Palestinian territory worsened due to relentless Israeli bombardment.
“The sick and wounded enemy prisoners of war are in a very difficult situation and are struggling to survive,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigade, said in a televised statement.
“This is not surprising because everything our people suffered, whether it was hunger, thirst or lack of medical help, was also suffered by enemy prisoners.”
Mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt gathered in Cairo this week to try to reach a deal to stop the fighting and secure the release of remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday he believed a deal was still “possible” but had not publicly announced any breakthrough.
Abu Obeida said that the situation was caused by Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.
“The time passed quickly,” he said.
According to Israeli officials, some 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip during the October 7 attack by Hamas members on Israel, and about 130 of them are still being held there.
Thirty of them are believed to have died, and more than 100 were released during the week-long truce that ended on 1 December.
In December, three hostages were accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers, and some of the hostages were rescued during military operations.
Several hostages still held in Gaza suffer from various illnesses and we have tried to provide them with medicines.
The attack on October 7 killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli data.
Since then, Israel’s relentless military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, according to the region’s health ministry.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
