Hamas: ’Israel’ Must ’Pay Price’ for Return of 4 ’Israeli’ Soldiers

Local Editor

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said it is holding four "Israeli" soldiers that it captured during the "Israeli" apartheid regime's 50-day war on the Gaza Strip in 2014.

During a Friday televised statement, spokesman of Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in Gaza Abu Obeida, said the movement has no contacts with the "Israeli" entity over the prisoners.

"There are no talks or negotiations relating to the prisoners," said Obeida while speaking on the local al-Aqsa TV with a poster behind him showing black-and-white photos of the four "Israeli" soldiers.

The Palestinian official stressed that the "Israeli" entity "will not [be able to] get information on the four without paying a clear price before and after any negotiations" on the issue.

He said that "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin "Netanyahu is lying to his people" and "deceiving the families of the captive soldiers."

Netanyahu recently claimed that "important progress" had been made in obtaining the return of two soldiers imprisoned in Gaza.

Tel Aviv had not made any comment on the announcement so far.

Hamas had refused to say whether the soldiers are dead or alive, but the "Israeli" regime had repeatedly announced that the soldiers were killed during the Gaza offensive and asked Hamas to return their bodies back to the "Israeli" entity.

Meanwhile on Friday, Times of "Israel" online newspaper referred to the four as two slain soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin as well as 29-year-old Avraham Mengistu, an Ethiopian "Israeli", along with a Bedouin-"Israeli".

Mengistu is said to have disappeared after he "independently" entered Gaza on September 7, 2014, two weeks after the end of latest "Israeli" war on Gaza in the summer of 2015.

The second man, whose name had not been released, is a Bedouin Arab from the village of Hura who reportedly entered Gaza via the Erez Crossing in April 2014.

In early July 2014, the "Israeli" apartheid regime waged a war on the Gaza Strip. The 50-day offensive ended on August 26 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital Cairo. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were martyred in "Israel's" onslaught. Over 11,100 others - including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people - were also injured.

Hamas launched retaliatory missile attacks against "Israel", with Tel Aviv confirming that 53 "Israeli" soldiers were killed in Gaza war. However, Hamas puts the number at around 100.

The "Israeli" regime and Hamas do not officially maintain direct contacts, and any deal would have to be mediated by international parties. In 2011, kidnapped "Israeli" soldier Gilad Shalit was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian detainees, in a deal brokered with the help of a German diplomat.

The "Israeli" soldier had been held in the besieged Gaza Strip for more than five years.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team