A Hamas member said Thursday that “it is too early to talk” about the release of more than a hundred hostages believed to be in the hands of the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, as heavy Israeli bombardments continue.
“It is too early to talk about the issue of the prisoners without first stopping the aggression.” in the Gaza Strip, Osama Abu Khaled, a member of the cabinet of Hamas members, told EFE.
The organization is “establishing contacts with all parties involved to put an end to the aggression,” Abu Khaled said, without giving further details.
Hamas continues to call on humanitarian organizations to provide “urgent and rapid assistance,” as well as fuel and other basic goods, in light of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, where more than 2.2 million people are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Abu Khaled reiterated that the Islamist movement, which has controlled Gaza since 2007 and has been at war with Israel for six days, rejects the opening of a humanitarian corridor because it “aims to force the displacement of Gaza residents.”
“The Palestinian people, with all their strength, men, women, children and elderly, would rather die than abandon their land and their homes. What is needed is for humanitarian organizations to gain access”he claimed.
In Gaza, at least 1,350 people have been killed and 6,049 injured by Israeli airstrikes, and hospitals are without electricity and in dire need of materials that have pushed their situation to the limit.
Negotiations are still ongoing between Egypt and the United States on humanitarian aid to Gaza and the transfer of wounded people in need of treatment to Egypt, as well as on a ceasefire proposed by the Egyptian authorities, according to the sources, who stated that so far all these proposals were rejected by Israel.
The number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip exceeded 338,000, an increase of 75,000 in the number of civilians who fled their homes in Palestinian territory in a single day, the UN Humanitarian Aid Coordination Office (OCHA) said on Thursday.
Source: DN
