Cairo, Dec 3:
Hamas has released all women and children held hostage in the Gaza Strip, Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of the movement’s political bureau, said on Saturday.
Shortly after hostilities in Gaza resumed on Friday morning, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas had not fulfilled its commitment to release all of the women hostages.
“The occupation [Israel] insists that a number of women and children continue to be held hostage by us, but we have stated that they are not. We have exchanged all women and children we had. If there are any cases, we do not know about them or we could not reach them,” al-Arouri told the Al Jazeera broadcaster.
The remaining hostages are Israeli soldiers and men who previously served in the Israeli army, al-Arouri said, adding that there will be no talks on their release until the aggression against the Gaza Strip stops.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages.
Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The truce was extended several times, but on Friday, December 1, the Israeli military resumed fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying the group had violated the humanitarian pause by opening fire on Israeli territory.
