Israel will never return its soldiers from Gaza without a prisoner swap, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announced on Thursday.

“The only way that the Israeli occupation will get its soldiers in the hands of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza is with a real and honorable prisoner swap,” Hamas Spokesperson Hazim Qasem asserted in a press release sent to the media.

Palestinian prisoner enters his nineteenth year in Israeli jails https://t.co/TyseaM8nDu

— Joe Catron 🇵🇸 #ICC4Israel (@jncatron) February 20, 2021

Qasem pointed to previous successes of the Palestinian resistance related to reaching prisoner swaps with the Israeli occupation over the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

These Chains Will Be Broken: New Book Delivers Resistance Message from Palestinian Prisoners to the World https://t.co/hTVLJV18RA pic.twitter.com/eqo1xx6x8w

— Th2shay (@Th2shay) January 21, 2020

The Hamas spokesperson stated that any prisoner swap would be carried out through indirect talks with his movement, which does not recognize Israel.

Mariam, daughter of the Palestinian prisoner Fadwa Hamada, celebrated her fourth birthday yesterday, it is her fourth year without her mother by her side.
Fadwa was arrested by Israel when her daughter was only a few months old, & sentenced to 10 years in prison. @SafaPressAgency pic.twitter.com/cgjPBK41uo

— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) February 20, 2021

Recently, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz confirmed that he was working with the Israeli security and political levels to regain the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, Al-Qassam Brigades.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)