GAZA, Oct 20 (Portal) – Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, has taken two U.S. hostages – a mother and her daughter – “on humanitarian grounds” in response to Qatar’s mediation efforts in the Gaza Strip “War with Israel, their spokesman Abu Ubaida said on Friday.
Hamas says it took about 200 hostages in a deadly rampage from the Gaza Strip on October 7 on communities and military bases in southern Israel. This was part of the largest attack on the country since the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
Hamas said 50 others were being held by other armed groups in the enclave. It said more than 20 hostages were killed by Israeli airstrikes, but no further details were given.
Abu Ubaida said they released the citizens “on humanitarian grounds and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims of (President Joe) Biden and his fascist government are false and baseless.”
Israel responded to the hostage crisis and attack by Hamas gunmen that killed 1,400 Israelis by bombarding Gaza with airstrikes, killing more than 4,000 people, and said it would work to free the hostages while destroying Hamas .
It massed tanks and troops near the enclave for an expected ground invasion and called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where Hamas is said to have established itself.
Israel has also stated that the total blockade of the enclave will not end until the Israeli hostages are released.
Those held include women, children, the elderly and people from other countries who have campaigned for their release, as well as some Israeli soldiers.
Hamas’s armed wing said on October 16 that the kidnapped non-Israelis were “guests” who would be released “if local circumstances permit.”
Hamas has proposed exchanging the hostages for 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but Israel is unlikely to agree to this while it remains in a state of war.
Hamas released a video of Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman who was captured at a dance party. The video showed her being treated for an arm injury by unknown medical staff at an unknown location.
Concern for those brought to Gaza complicates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promised goal of eliminating Hamas while upholding the long-standing principle of leaving no one behind.
In 2011, Israel exchanged hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to secure the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been held for five years.
That kind of exchange – criticized by some Israelis as too one-sided – now seems impossible as a nation scarred by past hostage-takings takes on what appears to be its most difficult crisis.
American and British officials have confirmed they are working with Qatar to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, including their citizens.
Other countries that have said their citizens are being held include Thailand, Argentina, Germany, France and Portugal.
Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Michael Geordie; Edited by Hugh Lawson, Diane Craft and Alistair Bell
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