By Ahmed Asmar
ANKARA (AA) — Palestinian resistance Hamas group on Thursday said it sought to keep the Israeli hostages in its custody alive, but that they were killed by the Israeli army under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on continuing the war on Gaza.
On the handover of bodies four Israeli captives, Hamas said in a statement it "preserved the lives of the occupation prisoners," provided them with what they could, and "treated them humanely, but their army killed them along with their captors."
"Criminal Netanyahu is crying today over the bodies of his prisoners who returned to him in coffins, in a blatant attempt to evade responsibility for their killing in front of his audience," Hamas also said.
While addressing the families of the killed Israeli captives — the families of Bibas and Lifshitz — it said: "We would have preferred your sons to return to you alive, but your army and government leaders chose to kill them instead of bringing them back."