The Hamas movement said on Friday that Israeli authorities were not showing seriousness in creating a new prisoner exchange deal for Israelis held by Hamas and Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Spokesperson of the movement, Hazem Qassem said that the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, had received Israeli offers through intermediates last week, but said what Israel is offering does not “meet even the minimum of the demands made by the resistance.”
Qassem told Ma’an that Israeli authorities are not showing any seriousness in agreeing on a prisoner exchange deal, adding that the “statements of Israeli leaders are just part of their lies directed at the families of the imprisoned Israeli soldiers to convince them they are putting in efforts to bring them back.”
Hamas just elected a new leader, #YahyaSinwar. Last month, their spokesman told @mehdirhasan that a new charter would be released "soon". pic.twitter.com/gtmZpVgi5K
— UpFront (@AJUpFront) February 16, 2017
Hamas claims to hold the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were pronounced dead by Israel during the 2014 war in Gaza, though Hamas has never explicitly said whether the two Israeli soldiers were alive or dead.
Earlier this month, Hamas had rejected an offer by the Israeli government to release a Hamas official in Israeli custody in exchange for the release of one of two Israelis thought to be held alive in the Gaza Strip.
Avraham Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, has reportedly been held by Hamas since September 2015 when he accidentally wandered into Gaza. Hisham al-Sayed, a young Israeli-Bedouin man who has schizophrenia, was last seen when he crossed into the Palestinian territory in April 2015.
Bennett: Next war with Hamas only a matter of time https://t.co/yS1zjnPRn0
— Marianne (@MarianneSansum) February 8, 2017
Hamas has repeatedly insisted that Israel must release all prisoners who were freed as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal who have since been redetained before starting talks of a new prisoner swap deal.
According to Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer, some 6,500 Palestinians were held in Israeli custody as of January.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
