ALBAWABA - Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades reported the deaths of two Israeli captives during an Israeli bombardment on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip a few days ago.
In a short video, Al-Qassam told prisoner families, "Your army has killed two of the prisoners in the airstrike on Rafah." The film also addressed Israeli society, saying, "Your army deceives you and continues to deceive you," and "Your government does not want to return the prisoners except in coffins."
The video ended with the hashtag "Time is running out," a slogan Al-Qassam has regularly used to underscore the diminishing window for arranging a prisoner swap as Israeli military activities in Gaza kill more Israeli detainees.
Senior Hamas commander Osama Hamdan told CNN on Thursday, "No one has any idea about the number of live prisoners."
The Al-Qassam Brigades said that an Israeli military operation in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza murdered three Gaza inmates. It sought to free four Israeli prisoners.
Al-Qassam told Israelis, "After the massacre committed by your army in Nuseirat camp to rescue four prisoners, your army killed three prisoners in the same camp, one of whom was an American citizen."
In a video titled "Your government kills some of your prisoners to save others," the group posted photographs of the slain detainees and said that "your prisoners will not be released except by liberating our prisoners."
In early March, Al-Qassam spokesman Abu Ubaida said Israeli military actions in Gaza "could exceed 70 prisoners." After a month, he said "the Ron Arad scenario is perhaps the most likely to repeat with the enemy prisoners in Gaza."
