Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan admits uncertainty regarding the status of the remaining 116 hostages taken on October 7, saying, “I don’t have any idea about that. No one has an idea about this,” in an interview with CNN.
He attributes the psychological state of the four recently rescued hostages to Israel’s actions, following a doctor’s report of their enduring continuous physical and emotional abuse during captivity. “I believe if they have mental problem, this is because of what Israel have done in Gaza,” Hamdan claims, controversially suggesting the hostages appeared healthier leaving Gaza than when they were taken.
Hamdan justifies Hamas’s refusal to accept truce terms, insisting that Israel must agree to a total ceasefire before hostage release discussions can proceed. Hamas requires “a clear position from Israel to accept the ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and let the Palestinians to determine their future by themselves, the reconstruction, the (lifting) of the siege … and we are ready to talk about a fair deal about the prisoners exchange,” he states.
He also dismisses a Wall Street Journal report alleging that Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar deemed civilian casualties a “necessary sacrifice,” calling it misinformation. “It was fake messages done by someone who is not Palestinian and (it) was sent (to the) Wall Street Journal as part of the pressure against Hamas and provoking the people against the leader,” Hamdan tells CNN, though providing no evidence for his claim.
{Matzav.com Israel}
