Hamas says Israel ‘has refused to receive two more hostages’ after terror group says it is prepared to release them from Gaza: Netanyahu dismisses claim as ‘false propaganda’
Hamas has claimed that Israel ‘refused to receive two more hostages’ after the terror group said it was prepared to release them from Gaza.
A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing said Saturday that the group planned to release the two hostages for “humanitarian reasons.”
However, it claimed that Israel has refused to receive them, a claim that Israel dismissed as “propaganda.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement: ‘We will not refer to false propaganda from Hamas. We will continue to work in every possible way to bring home all abducted and missing people.”
Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said in a brief statement that Qatar was informed on Friday of Hamas’s intention to release them.
He did not provide further information about the hostages.
Hamas has claimed that Israel ‘refused to receive two more hostages’ after the terror group said it was prepared to release them from Gaza. Pictured: Smoke and debris rise from an Israeli rocket attack on Gaza, October 21
The claim comes after Hamas released two other hostages on Friday: American mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan.
On October 7, Hamas militants stormed the Gaza border into Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, maimed or burned, and taking more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has retaliated with a brutal bombing campaign that has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry.
The Israeli army today announced it will step up its bombing of Gaza, just hours after first aid vehicles from Egypt arrived, bringing much-needed aid to civilians in the war-torn enclave.
The military said it wanted to reduce the risks its troops would face as they enter Gaza in the next phase of the war it launched against Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack.
An Israeli siege has cut off food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated area of 2.4 million people, raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have been deployed to the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive that officials have promised will begin “soon.”
“Starting today, we are stepping up attacks and minimizing the danger,” military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a news conference on Saturday.
“We must enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not based on what anyone tells us.”
People hold signs during a demonstration to show support and solidarity with the families of hostages held in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 21
During a visit to a frontline infantry brigade, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the troops were ready to face any surprises Hamas had in store for them as they entered Gaza.
“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing many things there, but we are also preparing for that,” Halevi said.
A full-fledged Israeli ground offensive against Gaza entails many risks, including for the hostages taken by Hamas and whose fate is shrouded in uncertainty.
The release of the two Americans among the hostages on Friday thus offered a rare “ray of hope,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
US President Joe Biden thanked Qatar, home to Hamas’s political office, for helping to secure the release. He said he was working “around the clock” to win the return of other Americans who were detained.
Natalie Raanan’s half-brother Ben told the BBC he felt an ‘overwhelming sense of joy’ at the release after ‘the most terrible ordeal’.
Hamas said Egypt and Qatar had negotiated the release and that it was “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian file (hostages) if appropriate security conditions allow.”
A person looks at posters of hostages and missing people as Tel Aviv residents show their support and solidarity with the families of hostages held in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 21 October
Journalists from the AFP news agency saw twenty trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza on Saturday. The border crossing – the only one not controlled by Israel – was closed again after the trucks passed through.
The trucks had been waiting on the Egyptian side for days after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally, the United States, to allow aid.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks allowed in on Saturday fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than a million of whom have been driven from their homes. “Much more” aid must be sent, Guterres said at a peace summit in Egypt.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the aid and urged “all parties” to keep the Rafah crossing open.
But a Hamas spokesman said “even dozens” of such convoys could not meet Gaza’s demands, mainly because fuel was not allowed in to help distribute supplies to those in need.
Nearly half of Gaza’s residents have been displaced and at least 30 percent of all homes in the area have been destroyed or damaged, the United Nations says.
Thousands have taken refuge in a camp in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis.
Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children had to walk for 10 hours to reach the camp, breaking into a flight at some points as rockets slammed around them.
“We saw bodies and limbs being torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she told AFP.
In Al-Zahra in central Gaza, Rami Abu Wazna struggled to cope with the destruction caused by Israeli rocket attacks.
American-Israeli hostages Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie were delivered to the Red Cross and returned to Israel on Friday, October 20, 2023
“Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this would be possible,” he said.
The United States has moved two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, both allies of Hamas, amid fears of a bigger conflagration.
The firefight continued Friday at Israel’s border with Lebanon, with Hezbollah reporting that four of its fighters had been killed. Two Thai farm workers were injured in Israel, emergency services said.
Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where 84 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.