Hamas says won’t release Israeli hostages until demands met

By Iyad Nabolsi

ISTANBUL (AA) – Hamas vowed Wednesday that it will not release any Israeli hostage in its captivity until its demands are fulfilled.

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

“Hamas will not release any Israeli hostage until all its goals are achieved,” former group chief Khaled Meshaal told an event in Jordan as cited by a Hamas statement.

He said the resistance group wants Israel’s deadly offensive halted and Israeli forces withdrawn from Gaza.

“We also demand the return of the displaced people to their homes and provision of all necessary relief and shelter, reconstruction of the enclave, and ending the siege,” Meshaal added.

Qatar, Egypt and the US are mediating between Hamas and Israel to reach a Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap between the two sides.

Hamas is estimated to be holding more than 130 Israeli hostages, while Tel Aviv is holding more than 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 32,500 Palestinians have since been killed and 74,900 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the cease-fire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli war, now in its 173rd day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul