A senior Hamas official assures that “no one has any idea” how many hostages are still alive in the Gaza Strip

June 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The spokesman and member of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Osama Hamdan, assured this Thursday that “no one has any idea” of how many hostages are left alive in the Gaza Strip of the more than a hundred who are still held captive. hands of Palestinian militias since the attacks of October 7, as he declared during an interview with the American television network .

“I have no idea about this. Nobody has an idea about this,” said Hamdan, who stated that the rescue operation of four hostages carried out by Israel last Saturday in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which ended With more than 270 Palestinians dead, it also ended the lives of three other kidnapped people.

In fact, last April, during the course of ceasefire negotiations, Hamas acknowledged to mediators that it was not able to meet Israeli demands to release 40 sick women and elderly people during the first stage of an agreement. because they did not have so many people meeting those criteria detained.

Hamdan has also insisted that Hamas needs “clear confirmation” that Israel accepts demands for a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, self-determination of the Palestinian people, the reconstruction of the Strip and the end of the blockade against the enclave, and has accused the Israeli Government of wanting an initial six-week truce to return to fighting after the release of the hostages.

Regarding the testimony of a doctor who treated freed hostages, who stated that they had suffered physical and mental abuse, and that he was beaten “all the time,” Hamdan has shifted the blame to the Israeli bombings, and has pointed out that the images of These people being released at the end of the year prove the opposite.

“I think that if they have mental problems it is because of what Israel has done in Gaza. Because no one can stand what Israel is doing, bombing every day, killing civilians, killing women and children… they saw it with their own eyes” , has added.

The representative of the group has also stated that the attacks of October 7, which left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages, were a “reaction against the Israeli occupation” of Palestinian territory, and once again has transferred responsibility for the attacks to Israel. themselves.

“Whoever is in charge or responsible for it is the occupation. If you resist the occupation, they kill you; if you don’t resist the occupation, they also kill you and expel you from your country. What are we supposed to do, wait?”, has been justified.

Finally, he has denied the alleged messages belonging to the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, in which he assured that the deaths of Palestinians in Israel’s operations, which have reached the figure of almost 37,230, are “necessary sacrifices “, according to ‘The Wall Street Journal’.

“They were false messages made by a non-Palestinian and sent to the ‘Wall Street Journal’ as part of the pressure against Hamas to turn people against the leader. Nobody can accept that the Palestinians, their own people, should be killed.” Hamdan has asserted.