Hamas has instructed its soldiers holding hostages to execute them if the Israeli army closes in on them.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the group, said the move follows what he called the “Nusseirat incident” in June, in which Israeli special forces rescued four hostages from two apartments in Gaza.
He said “new instructions were issued” on how to “deal with” hostages in the event of the Israeli army approaching their location.
“Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the captives through military pressure instead of making a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins. Their families must choose: either dead or alive,” he added.
The terror group released the statement along with a propaganda video of hostage Eden Yerushalmi, 24, who was kidnapped on Oct 7 and was among the six hostages executed by Hamas in a Gaza tunnel last weekend.
All six had been shot and killed by terrorists in Gaza before their bodies were found by the Israeli army.
X1l4r on September 3rd, 2024 at 11:12 UTC »
It’s a war crime, pure and simple. It’s also the most logical course for Hamas to follow. If those hostages are liberated, Israel will claim a victory. If those hostages are killed in bombings, Israel will continue it’s operations claiming they were already dead anyway.
By executing them, Hamas does remind Israel that they still have dozens of alive Israeli that can serve in any deals. It also discredit further the Netanyahu gov, for which the liberation of hostages has never been a priority.
And while it does make sense for them to do that, no one should forget that those hostages had no responsibilities whatsoever in this conflict, they were innocents bystanders that survived through hell for months before being executed by terrorists.
Significant_Swing_76 on September 3rd, 2024 at 10:29 UTC »
To be fair, it makes sense.
The hostages are more or less the only leverage Hamas has left, their only bargaining chip.
By publicly stating that they ordered the execution in case of risk of loosing this leverage, it will make internal protests in Israel more pressing, since the families of the hostages will no longer want their government to pursue any other way than negotiations.
TheTelegraph on September 3rd, 2024 at 09:57 UTC »
The Telegraph reports:
Hamas has instructed its soldiers holding hostages to execute them if the Israeli army closes in on them.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the group, said the move follows what he called the “Nusseirat incident” in June, in which Israeli special forces rescued four hostages from two apartments in Gaza.
He said “new instructions were issued” on how to “deal with” hostages in the event of the Israeli army approaching their location.
“Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the captives through military pressure instead of making a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins. Their families must choose: either dead or alive,” he added.
The terror group released the statement along with a propaganda video of hostage Eden Yerushalmi, 24, who was kidnapped on Oct 7 and was among the six hostages executed by Hamas in a Gaza tunnel last weekend.
All six had been shot and killed by terrorists in Gaza before their bodies were found by the Israeli army.
Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/03/israel-gaza-war-hamas-execute-hostages-idf/