The radical Islamic group Hamas said this Saturday (21) that it will not discuss the fate of Israeli military prisoners until Israel ends its “aggression” on the Gaza Strip.
“Our position regarding Israeli Army prisoners is clear: it is related to a (possible) prisoner exchange, and we will not discuss this until Israel ends its aggression against Gaza and the Palestinians,” said Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official, speaking of Lebanon, in a televised press conference.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an update that it now believes 210 people are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The statement was issued by the spokesman for the Israeli forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, to journalists at a press conference this Saturday.
The news comes a day after two American hostages — Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan — were released by Hamas, nearly two weeks after its terrorist attacks on Israel.
After the release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would continue working to bring back all the hostages.
“Two of our hostages are at home. We will not diminish the effort to bring back all those kidnapped and missing. At the same time, we continue to fight until victory is achieved,” Netanyahu said in a statement published on social media on Friday (20).
See also: Israelis who survived the Hamas attack depend on donations
Published by Flávio Ismerim, with information from Chris Liakos, Mariya Knight and Tamar Michaelis, from CNN Internacional; and Hatem Maher and Enas Alashray of Reuters
Source: CNN Brasil
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