Hamas spokesperson and political bureau member Osama Hamdan said there was no knowledge about how many of the 120 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, were alive. "No one has any idea about that," he told CNN in an interview early on Friday.
Speaking from Beirut, Hamdan said three hostages including one American, were killed as the result of the Israeli operation to rescue four captives, last week. He also claimed they appeared in better health than when they were abducted.
Hamdan told CNN that any deal to release the hostages must include guarantees of a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. He said that the latest proposal on the table backed by the United States did not meet Hamas' requirements and that the terror group demanded "a clear position" that Israel would accept the cease-fire and withdraw its troops from the Strip.
"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 said.
“The Israelis want the ceasefire only for six weeks and then they want to go back to the fight, which I think the Americans, till now, they did not convince the Israelis to accept [a permanent ceasefire].”
Hamdan said the October 7 massacre was “a reaction against the occupation,” and did not reply directly to the question if Hamas regrets its attack.
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Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov, Noa Argamani and Almog Meir
(Photo: Marko Djurica / Reuters, IDF)
“The one who is in charge or responsible for that is [the Israeli] occupation. If you resist the occupation, (they) will kill you, if you did not resist the occupation, [they] also will kill you and deport you out of your country. So what we are supposed to do, just to wait?,” Hamdan asked.
He dismissed as fake reports that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, suggested the Palestinian civilian losses were “necessary sacrifices.”