People display hostages kidnapped by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and currently detained in the Gaza Strip, during a vigil demanding government action for their return in front of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) in Jerusalem, on November 7, 2023. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
“We are ready to release them for humanitarian reasons when the security conditions on the ground are met,” declared the spokesperson for the military branch of Islamic Jihad.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad published Thursday, November 9, a video of two Israeli hostages, a woman in her seventies and a young teenager, whom it claims to be holding in Gaza, saying it is ready to release them “if security conditions are met“.
In the video, the two hostages express their wish to be quickly released to reunite with their loved ones and criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s crisis management. Abu Hamza, by his nom de guerre, the spokesperson for the military wing of Islamic Jihad, a group that fights alongside Hamas against Israel in the Gaza Strip, announced that Islamic Jihad was ready to release the hostage septuagenarian “for humanitarian and health reasons“. “We can no longer give her the care she needs, due to a lack of fuel and electricity and basic means of survival.» Concerning the teenager, he said he was prepared to release him “for humanitarian reasons and because of his age, even if the occupier’s prisons are full of children» Palestinians.
“Our initiative will be implemented if the security conditions on the ground are met to ensure the protection of our Palestinian people“, he said, adding that the lives of the hostages could be put in danger by the Israeli bombings.
“Psychological terrorism”
Israeli media reported this video, publishing a screenshot. The Israeli army denounced its broadcast as “psychological terrorism of the worst kind“. The spokesperson for Islamic Jihad affirmed that his group had participated in the fighting alongside Hamas since the launch of the operation.Al-Aqsa Flood», the attack of unprecedented scale carried out on October 7 by commandos of the Islamist movement which left more than 1,400 dead on Israeli soil, the majority civilians, according to the Israeli authorities.
Nearly 240 people, Israelis but also foreigners, were kidnapped during this attack and taken to the Gaza Strip where they are being held hostage. The military branch of Hamas claims to be holding some 200. The Jihad spokesperson said in the video that his group was also holding hostages without specifying the number.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes have killed more than 10,800 people, mainly civilians, since October 7, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
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