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Hamas and the Islamic Jihad They assured on Sunday that they have at least 130 hostages who were kidnapped over the weekend during the bloody operation in Israel. Now, these people are bargaining chips for extremists, as demonstrated by similar situations that occurred in the past and the threats made on Monday from Gaza.
Among the more than 100 hostages are Israeli soldiers, elderly people, women and children. There are also foreigners. Until now, the massacre of Hamas In Gaza it left more than 800 dead and 2,500 injured.
LOOK: How could Hamas carry out the worst attack against Israel without anyone detecting it?
Hamas He has already started using his precious loot as currency trading. Monday threatened to “publicly” execute Israeli civilian hostages if Israel continues to bomb indiscriminately Link without prior notice to residents.
“Any attack on innocent homes in Link without warning and alert will face the public execution of a hostage,” stated in a statement Abu Obeidaspokesman for the Al Qasam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
“The execution will be of civilian hostages, not military, and will be broadcast online,” he added.
Furthermore, on Monday Hamas reported that four hostages were killed in overnight Israeli bombings on Link.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin NetanyahuPrometheus revenge for the massacre of Israelis, the end Hamas until removing him from power in Gaza, which he had occupied since 2007. And he announced that it will be a long war.
Since Saturday, attacks on Israel left more than 560 dead and 2,900 injured in Link. Not only is infrastructure being attacked HamasThere are also buildings inhabited by civilians that have been destroyed.
But the plan Netanyahu punish mercilessly Hamas There is a big difficulty: the more than 100 hostages.
By keeping them captive, Hamas He hopes to obtain benefits, the release of prisoners or agree to a ceasefire that favors him.
This has already happened. For example, in 2011 Israel exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to secure the release of a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.that had been kidnapped in Gaza for five years.
Exactly, to bring back Shalit Israel had to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including more than 300 serving life sentences for attacks against Israelis. The agreement was thanks to the mediation of Egypt and Germany.
Shalitthen 20 years old, he was captured on June 25, 2006 by militiamen who They left Gaza through a tunnel and surprised the tank crew near a border fence. They killed two soldiers and took the young man away.
Two years before his release, Palestinians provided evidence of the soldier’s life via video. In return, Israel released 20 Palestinian prisoners.
But not only Hamas takes hostages under pressure Israel. In 2008, the Lebanese Shiite militia of Hezbollah swapped bodies of two Israeli soldiers who were in his power as prisoners in the hands of Israel.
Hezbollah handed over the bodies of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in exchange for 200 dead militiamen and five alive who Israel held in their prisons.
Today Hamas has more than 100 Israelis captured. Therefore, it is worth asking whether the ferocious bombings of Israel in Gaza They will be sustained over time. What if a massive ground operation is on the way.
“The cruel reality is that Hamas took hostages as an insurance policy against any Israeli retaliatory action, especially after a massive ground attack, and then exchanging them for Palestinian prisoners,” Aaron David Miller, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters.
“Does this limit Israel’s possible military responses? If the number of hostages is large, how could this not be done?” he added.
Israel said he will act to free the hostages, that he will destroy the “terrorist infrastructure” of Hamas and which will ensure that no terrorist group in Gaza can harm Israeli citizens again.
Israel He now faces two dilemmas: an attempt to rescue the hostages could end badly. Or a prolonged negotiation with Hamas for a prisoner exchange. In both cases, the Islamic group, designated as terrorist by the United States and the European Union, would claim victory.
Israel stated that it is trying to establish the exact number of its citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told CNN that “It is unprecedented in our history that we have so many Israeli citizens in the hands of a terrorist organization.”
In addition to Israelis, there are hostages of other nationalities. There are also people missing, such as two Peruvian citizens.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of MexicoAlicia Bárcena, said on Sunday that two Mexican citizens, a woman and a man, were “presumably” taken hostage by Hamas.
Many of the hostages They were captured by Hamas at a music festival which happened on Saturday near the border with Link.
Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of young people running through the desert trying to escape the hail of bullets. Other images showed people arrested for Hamas circulate in vehicles until Link. Around 260 people died in this attack alone.
LOOK: How did Hamas carry out the massacre and mass kidnapping at an electronic music festival in Israel?: this is what we know
In one of the videos it is possible to see an Israeli woman and her boyfriend, identified as Noa Argamani and Avinatan Ou. She was placed on the back of a motorcycle and taken away, while the man was detained and forced to walk with his hands behind his back.
In another video verified by CNN, a festival attendee is seen unconscious and surrounded by armed militants. This is German-Israeli citizen Shani Louk. His whereabouts are unknown.
Hamas He also took hostages in the border community of Be’eri and in the town of Ofakim, 32 kilometers east of Linkaccording to IDF spokesman General Daniel Hagari.
An Israeli mother told CNN that she was on the phone with her children, ages 16 and 12, who were home alone when He heard gunshots outside and people trying to get in. Then he heard the door break.
“I heard terrorists speaking Arabic to my teenage children. And the youngest said to them, ‘I’m too young to go’”, said the mother. “And the phone rang, the line rang. “That was the last I heard from them.”
Another Israeli parent told CNN that He suspects that his wife and daughters may have been kidnapped while visiting Nir Oz.. He said he recognized his wife in a viral video showing a group of people being loaded into the back of a van flanked by militants. Hamas.
“I don’t even know what the hostage situation is, and the situation doesn’t look good,” Yoni Asher said. He added that he tracked his wife’s phone and discovered that it was located in Gaza.
CNN verified another video recorded in the Shejaiya neighborhood in Linkwhere an armed man takes a barefoot woman from the trunk of a jeep and forces her to sit in the back seat of the vehicle. The kidnapped woman’s face is bleeding and her wrists appear to be tied with cables. The jeep also appears to have an IDF license plate, suggesting it may have been stolen in Israel and taken to Link.
Hamas also said it had “dozens” of Israeli soldiers.
“We bring good news to our (Palestinian) prisoners and our people that the al-Qassam Brigades have dozens of captured (Israeli) agents and soldiers in their hands,” said the group’s spokesman, Abu Obaida, in a post on Telegram . “They were protected in secure locations and resistance tunnels.”
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
