![Families and supporters of hostages hostages held by Palestinian militants since the October 7 attack hold a demonstration outside the Israeli ministry of defence in Tel Aviv on December 15, 2023 [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GettyImages-1850834373-scaled-e1703072752694-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
An Israeli captive held by the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip has told Benjamin Netanyahu, “You want us to return as corpses.” Gadi Moses made his bitter comment in a video released by Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, earlier today. The group warned that the captives’ lives “are in danger due to the Israeli bombing” of the Strip.
“More pressure must be put on the [Israeli] government, so it understands what we want,” said Moses, addressing his friends in the occupation state. “We want every effort to be made so we can return to our friends and families soon, and to our homes.”
He then addressed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and War Cabinet member Benny Gantz directly. “Pay attention to this situation. We are dying every moment. We are in an unbearable situation, and it is possible that we will be killed because there is no guarantee that the army will not bomb us. We are in danger.” He added that the feeling is that the government does not want them to return alive so that it can “lower the negotiating ceiling.”
The other prisoner who appeared in the video, Elad Katzir, 47, said that they are in danger because of “the army’s missiles that threaten our lives. We miss our homes and want to return alive.”
Katzir called on Netanyahu and other decision-makers in Israel to do everything necessary for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal. “We do not want to die in Gaza and our lives are in great danger. We ask you to do everything necessary to bring us back.”
Hamas, which is leading the negotiations with Israel mediated by Qatar and Egypt, refuses to discuss a prisoner exchange deal before the Israeli army withdraws from the Gaza Strip and a comprehensive ceasefire is agreed. “Only then will we talk about the prisoner issue,” insisted deputy leader Khalil Al-Hayya on Sunday. “We also want unity for our people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
READ: Hamas calls on UN, int’l groups to protect health facilities in Gaza
A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas ended in early December, during which Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and Israeli captives in Gaza were exchanged. A small amount of humanitarian aid and limited quantities of fuel were allowed into the territory.
As of yesterday, Israel had killed 19,667 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, most of them children and women. Almost 53,000 have been wounded, and at least 8,000 remain missing under the rubble of the civilian infrastructure destroyed by the apartheid state. The occupied Palestinian territory has been under Israeli siege for more than 16 years, and is in the grip of an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” say Palestinian and UN sources.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October against Israeli military bases and settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, during which 1,139 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed, many of them by “friendly fire” from the Israel Defence Forces. The operation was in response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” notably Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. Around 240 Israelis were captured during the operation, 110 of whom have already been exchanged for some of the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.
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