(Dan Tri) – A senior official from the Palestinian force Hamas raised a scenario in which the group will discuss a hostage exchange with Israel.
Smoke rises in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli raid on October 9 (Photo: Reuters).
Izzat al-Risheq, a Hamas official, told CNN on October 11 that it was too early to exchange Israeli hostages while Tel Aviv was continuing to attack the Gaza Strip.
`We will only discuss this (hostage exchange) when Israel’s attack on our people stops,` he said.
This official also denied information that Hamas received help from Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah force in connection with launching a surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
`I say very clearly that this operation was 100% carried out by Hamas without any assistance from any party in the region,` al-Risheq said.
Previously, Western media quoted a Hamas official as saying that this force had `support` from Iran in the incident.
Currently, Hamas is still holding 150 hostages at different locations in the Gaza Strip, according to information from Israel.
The Qassam Brigades, a branch of the Hamas armed forces, posted a video on October 11 that appeared to show them releasing three Israeli hostages.
However, the Israeli side has not confirmed the release of this hostage.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv’s army is still conducting large-scale raids in response to Hamas.
People in Gaza also face a humanitarian crisis when hospitals are overloaded, while Israel cuts off electricity and water supplies to tighten the siege on the narrow strip of land inhabited by 2.3 million Palestinians.
Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, warned earlier this week that they would begin executing hostages if Israel attacked civilians in Gaza without warning.
On the other hand, Israeli authorities claim that Hamas is holding hostages in underground locations.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said Hamas had planned the attack, kidnapping of hostages and location of hostages in advance.
Gaza’s densely populated terrain, network of underground tunnels and large numbers of men, women and children held captive have left Israel facing its most complex hostage crisis to date.
Mr Conricus said the hostage issue was an `extremely sensitive and complex subject`.
When asked whether Israel would send troops by land to the Gaza Strip, Mr. Conricus said he did not announce Israel’s schedule or intentions in this conflict.
`What is clear and understandable is that it is necessary to eliminate all military capabilities of Hamas. How that will happen, by what means and with what tactics, that is a matter of the next few days, maybe more
