Hamas calls on Israel to acknowledge real number of 'prisoners in Gaza'

A senior Hamas official has said that the movement will remain silent regarding the Israeli soldiers “captured by the Palestinian resistance” in the Gaza Strip until Tel Aviv acknowledges the real number being held, Al-Resalah reported on Monday. Osama Hamdan stressed that nothing will be said or done until after the release of all prisoners who were freed in a previous swap and then rearrested by Israel have been set free.

He stressed that Hamas would not be involved in the issue of “numbers of soldiers held captive” by the resistance, noting that the Israeli occupation has previously denied the capture of any of its soldiers in Gaza. “The Israeli occupation only started to recognise its losses after facing silence from Hamas,” he told the Palestinian newspaper. “Hamas will not speak anything regarding the soldiers before the occupation recognise the real facts and numbers about its losses.”

Hamdan said that international powers had proposed mediation regarding the soldiers and ideas were discussed with them. Some were pushed by Israel to talk to the Islamic movement in order to get information, he claimed, as there are no contacts between Hamas and the Israeli occupation authorities in this regard. He reiterated that there will be no talks about this issue unless all of the conditions set by Hamas are met, including clear Israeli guarantees that it will respect previous deals.