Al-Qassam Brigades share new footage of Israeli prisoner in Gaza

By Nour Mahd Ali Abu Aisha and Mehmet Nuri Ucar

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Al-Qassam Brigades shared new footage Saturday of an Israeli prisoner in Gaza who lost his wife and two children in an Israeli airstrike.

The armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, shared the video on Telegram in which Yarden Bibas refers to his murdered wife and two children, and addresses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Will I get out of here and mourn them or will I be buried in the ground with them,” he said.

The group had offered to hand the bodies to Israel but the Netanyahu government rejected the offer and continued to negotiate.

In an image shared by Al-Qassam Brigades on Nov. 30, Bibas tearfully demanded from Netanyahu that "the bodies of three family members killed in the bombings in Gaza be taken to Israel as part of a prisoner swap and buried there."

Hamas had announced that the offer to extend a "humanitarian pause” for one more day in exchange for the delivery of the bodies of seven women and children prisoners and three Israeli prisoners killed in Israeli airstrikes during negotiations had been rejected by Tel Aviv.

Al-Qassam Brigades said Sherry Silverman Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas were killed in the strike, but details about how and when the prisoners died were not shared.

Since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, Israel has continued relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 22,722 Palestinians and injuring 58,166, said health authorities.

At least 9,280 children have been killed in the Israeli onslaught, according to data released by the Gaza Media Office on Monday.

Israeli authorities claimed that the Hamas attacks have killed around 1,200 Israelis.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

The Israeli army announced that 510 soldiers have been killed since Oct, 7, when attacks on Gaza began -- 176 during the land invasion process.

On Nov. 24, a total of 81 Israeli and 240 Palestinian prisoners were released during a "humanitarian pause," which was granted for four days in the fighting and later extended for another three days.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued to detain and imprison thousands of Palestinians.

Since Oct. 7, a total of 326 Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli forces and illegal Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

In ongoing clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah on the Lebanese border since Oct. 8, a total of 28 Lebanese civilians, 148 Hezbollah members, five Israeli civilians and nine Israeli soldiers have died.

*Writing by Merve Berker