ALBAWABA - Three hostages who were detained in Gaza during an Israeli military operation to free four Israeli captives in the Nusairat camp in central Gaza have been confirmed dead, according to the military branch of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
Al-Qassam made the following declaration to the Israeli public in a statement: "Your army killed three hostages in the same camp, one of whom was an American citizen, following the massacre your army committed in Nusairat camp yesterday to save four hostages."
Photos of the dead captives were made public by the organization in a video titled "Your Government Kills Some of Your Hostages to Save Others." It was emphasized by Al-Qassam that "your hostages will only be released through the liberation of our prisoners."
The video ended with the hashtag "time is running out," highlighting the shortening window of opportunity for a possible prisoner swap as the Israeli army's heavy shelling of Gaza is killing more Israeli prisoners.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that four Israeli captives had been freed from two different sites inside the Nusairat camp. During this operation, 698 Palestinians were injured and 274 Palestinians, including 64 women and 57 children, died. The propaganda ministry of the Gaza Authority ascribed these deaths to Israeli troops attacking the camp with heavy artillery and aircraft strikes.
The Al-Qassam Brigades' spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said after the operation that while the Israeli force had murdered several captives during the operation, it had also retrieved other hostages via horrifying atrocities. He did not state how many hostages were slain in detail.
Abu Ubaida cautioned in his statement that the operation would have a detrimental effect on the circumstances and lives of the Israeli captives and presented a "great danger" to them.
