by Hamas Spokesperson , Khalil Hayyah, published on Workers World, September 2, 2024
The six [Israeli] prisoners (t.me/RNN_Backup/54954) and others could have been released to their families through a real exchange deal while still alive, but the insistence of the occupation army, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and his extremist government is the reason these prisoners lost their lives (t.me/RNN_Backup/55040), along with dozens killed directly by the occupation through bombardment, targeting those who were with them, guarding them or living with them.
Some enemy prisoners were killed directly by live bullets from the occupation. Netanyahu and his team do not care about the prisoners. When Netanyahu was asked to choose between Philadelphia and the prisoners, he said, “Philadelphia is more important than the prisoners,” and this is publicly known.
Netanyahu displays bravado and attempts to portray false heroics here and there. These six were directly killed by the occupation and were also targeted in bombings and other actions, as were many before them. I provide here an example of one of them, an “israeli” youth who holds U.S. citizenship.
This young man, for purely humanitarian reasons requested by his family and through the intervention of many people via the Qatari brothers, asked for assurances about his life. We responded for humanitarian and political reasons, to push toward progress in concluding a real deal. We handed the Qatari brothers a video of this young man speaking with his mother and father.
The young man addressed the “Israeli” government. After this video, and before some time, Al-Qassam announced that they had lost contact with him and those guarding him, clearly indicating that he was subjected to a direct strike by the “Israeli” occupation. Since that day, nothing was known about his life, and today he was found dead with a group of others, which is clear evidence that the occupation targets these individuals.
All stages of negotiation have shown that Netanyahu is not interested in reaching a deal. Instead of sending his army to kill and destroy an entire area to recover two or three prisoners, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, he could have retrieved them through a real exchange deal, as we did last November.
In November and December, more than 115 to 125 “Israelis” and foreigners returned through negotiations conducted with the desire, will and mediation of Qatar. This is an example of how, if Netanyahu truly wanted a prisoner exchange, we were immediately ready. We have shown great flexibility and made significant concessions to achieve an exchange deal, halt aggression and war, and end the suffering of the people.
The United States is [also]responsible for obstructing the negotiations; it does not want to reach a deal and has withdrawn from its previous commitments. Briefly looking back, since last March there have been indirect negotiations between us, the mediator brothers and the occupation. We stopped at the points of a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, the withdrawal of the occupation and reconstruction.
Our demand for the exchange included high standards, such as 500 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for every soldier and female soldier and 250 for others. When the mediators indicated there would be a significant opportunity if we showed flexibility in the exchange criteria, we immediately responded, reducing from 500 to 50 for the female soldiers and from 250 to 30 for the civilians.
The mediators, including those from the U.S., received this flexibility positively. But what did the occupation do? They disregarded it and began a new maneuver in May. In May, the Egyptian mediator brothers presented a complete agreement, to which we immediately agreed. The next day, what did the occupation do? They stormed the Rafah crossing, which remains closed.
*Featured Image: Thousands of protesters rallied across Israel on Sept. 1 condemning Prime Minister Netanyahu for his handling of the hostages being held in Gaza. Protester’s sign in Hebrew reads “Netanyahu’s Legacy.”
This statement has been lightly edited.
It might help readers if this was supported with cites to documents etc.
Here’s a short news video showing Netanyahu talking about the Philadelphia corridor. They are indeed blocking the consensus on a ceasefire because they refuse to leave the Philadelphia corridor.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-says-israel-must-control-philadelphi-corridor-gaza-2024-09-02/
Hamas rightly claims that if Israel controls the Philadelphia corridor, the people of Gaza will remain entombed in an Israeli prison with no way out. Even the Egyptians don’t want Israel to control the Philadelphia corridor because it is their border and has nothing to do with Israel. It is their border with Gaza/Palestine.
You can search the internet for a copy of the agreement that Israel refused to sign. I am sure it is out there. Israel has abducted thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and occupied Israel since the war began. Everyone who went to work in Israel on the 7th of October was imprisoned. Again, this was published around the time it happened in the English language Israeli press, just as the fact that Israel is responsible for many of the deaths on October 7th, which was reported in depth in Ha’aretz.
The Israeli attack on Nuiserat that freed another 6 hostages, killed 240 Palestinians and a few other hostages. Last winter, the IOF murdered 3 hostages in Gaza who had escaped and were waving white flags. https://www.timesofisrael.com/initial-idf-probe-hostages-were-shirtless-waving-white-flag-when-troops-opened-fire/
With regard to whether the 6 prisoners were killed by Israel or Hamas: Israel turned down a hostage trade that included them some time ago. Furthermore, Israel has been recklessly shooting up and blowing up tunnels and civilian areas all over Gaza, while all evidence from Israeli hostages who have returned from Gaza so far is that they were treated very well. You decide who is telling the truth about who killed these 6 people.