The threat was made on Palestinian television by Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Obeida: “Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership nor its supporters will be able to capture their prisoners alive without exchange and negotiation and without that the demands of resistance are met.” The warning from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades coincided with the warning from Qatar’s prime minister, who said Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip “narrows the window” for a new ceasefire fires that would allow another release of hostages.
According to Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, efforts to reach an agreement between the conflicting parties continue: “We are committed to obtaining the release of the hostages, but also to ending the war,” the Qatari said leader at the Doha Forum. . But according to AFP, he added: “We don’t see the same goodwill on both sides.”
The weeklong ceasefire, which ended on December 1, allowed the release of 105 of the 242 hostages Hamas took after the October 7 surprise attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Tel Aviv authorities. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners who returned to Gaza, where Israeli attacks have caused nearly 18,000 deaths, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.
Faced with the failure of international calls for a ceasefire, which were reflected in the US veto on Friday evening of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza, Obeida guaranteed that Hamas had no choice but to fight.
“We have no choice but to fight this barbaric occupier in every neighborhood, street and alley,” the spokesperson said. “The enemy’s holocaust aims to break the strength of our resistance (…), but we are waging a holy battle in our country,” he added.
This Sunday, the Israeli army continued its fight against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and intensified airstrikes on the narrow 10 by 40 km area, forcing hundreds of thousands of its 2.3 million residents to congregate in increasingly smaller areas. The US “urgently” approved the sale to Israel of 14,000 shells for Merkava tanks used in the offensive against Hamas. He reported “very violent attacks” on the town of Khan Yunis, in the south, and on the road connecting the town to Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
According to both sides, the fighting is mainly concentrated in the Khan Yunis region, Jabaliya and the city of Gaza.
In an interview with CNN, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued that it is up to the Israeli government to determine the duration of the offensive against Hamas, lamenting that the promise to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip is not always kept.
US officials told CNN this week that they expect the current phase of the ground invasion of Gaza to last several weeks before transitioning, possibly in January, to a less intensive, hyper-local strategy that focuses closely on Hamas militants and leaders.
Source: DN
