GAZA/JERUSALEM — Hamas said on Monday that 33 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip have been killed, with some others still missing, because of Israeli military operations.
A video posted by Hamas included footage of past Israeli attacks on areas in Gaza where Israeli hostages were held, resulting in their deaths, as well as messages from some hostages.
Hamas warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “obstinacy and continued aggression are increasing the death toll of enemy prisoners”, emphasizing that if the “crazy war” continues, “you may lose your prisoners forever”. “Do what you have to do before it is too late”, it added.
This video from Hamas came two days after the Al-Qassam Brigades, its military wing, released a video on Saturday showing an Israeli prisoner with US citizenship being held in Gaza.
Edan Alexander, who paused multiple times because of his emotional distress, said he had been held captive for more than 420 days and urged the Israeli government and United States President-elect Donald Trump to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Trump said on Monday there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held in Gaza were not released before his Jan 20 inauguration.
“If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for the latter’s rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7 last year, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
The Palestinian death toll from continuing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 44,502, Gaza-based health authorities said on Tuesday.
Hamas has called for an end to the conflict and total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal to release the remaining hostages. Netanyahu has said the military campaign will go on until Hamas is eradicated and poses no more threat to Israel.
On Tuesday, Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them in the town of Beit Lahiya on the northern edge, medics said, as the army issued new evacuation orders in the south of the enclave.
Medics said eight people had been killed in a series of strikes in Beit Lahiya while four others were killed elsewhere in Gaza City.
An Israeli airstrike later killed two people and wounded others in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said.
Xinhua – Agencies