Watan-Abu Ubaida, the official spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, made a statement clarifying the fate of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, including a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a group known as “Don’t Leave Us to Suffer.”
Abu Ubaida revealed that “the number of enemy prisoners killed as a result of the enemy army’s military operations in the Gaza Strip may exceed 70 prisoners.”
He confirmed that 7 Israeli prisoners were killed along with the groups assigned to protect them.
Abu Ubaida stated that the al-Qassam Brigades had always sought “to preserve the lives of prisoners, but it has become clear that the enemy leadership deliberately kills its captives to get rid of this issue.”
عــاجــل | الناطق باسم كتائب القسام، أبو عبيدة:
– سبقَ أنْ أعلنّا أنَّ اتصالَنا قدْ انقطعَ مع مجاهدينا الذين يحرسون عدداً من أسرى العدوِّ في قطاعِنا الصادقِ، وأنَّنا نرجحُ أنَّ عدداً من الأسرى قد تم قتلُهم نتيجةَ قصف الاحتلال.
– بعدَ الفحصِ والتدقيقِ خلالَ الأسابيعِ الأخيرةِ… pic.twitter.com/jO2BRzYzHW
— رضوان الأخرس (@rdooan) March 1, 2024
The fate of Netanyahu’s friend
Regarding the fate of Netanyahu’s friend, a Hamas source mentioned that one of the three killed was a close friend of the Israeli Prime Minister, as confessed during detention.
Hamas posted an image with the caption: “Netanyahu left his friends to face their fate alone without rescuing them.”
The resistance also mentioned Israeli hostages, stating that the responsible group lost contact with them due to Israeli airstrikes last December.
The fate of the “Don’t Leave Us to Suffer” group
In December 2023, the resistance released a video message from Israeli captives in Gaza to the Israeli government and their families, saying, “Don’t leave us to suffer.”
In the video, the Israeli captives expressed fear of being killed by Israeli airstrikes.
Another video showed images of the three hostages – Hayim Gershon Perry, Yoram Ettinger Meizger, and Amiram Israel Kupor – repeating the phrase “Don’t leave us to suffer,” stating that their generation built the Zionist entity.
The video, presented in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, asked: “What do you think?” and presented three options: “Were they all killed? Were some killed and others injured? Are they still alive?”
The al-Qassam Brigades released another video addressing the Israeli public, saying, “Your government lies. Wait for us… Tomorrow we will tell you their fate.”
Revealing their fate
Abu Ubaida, in an audio recording released on Friday, confirmed the killing of 7 Israeli prisoners by the groups assigned to protect them, due to continuous Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, without specifying when it happened.
He stated via his Telegram channel: “We previously announced that our communication was lost with our fighters guarding a number of enemy prisoners in our truthful sector, and we assume that some of the prisoners were killed as a result of Zionist airstrikes.”
The Hamas official continued, “After examining and verifying during the past few weeks, it has been confirmed to us the martyrdom of some of our fighters and the killing of seven of the enemy’s prisoners in the sector as a result of Zionist airstrikes, including: Hayim Gershon Perry, Yoram Ettinger Meizger, and Amiram Israel Kupor. We will later announce the names of the four other dead after confirming their identities.”
The enemy deliberately killed them
Abu Ubaida emphasized that “the number of enemy prisoners killed as a result of the enemy army’s military operations in the Gaza Strip may exceed seventy prisoners. We have always sought to preserve the lives of prisoners, but it has become clear that the enemy leadership deliberately kills its captives to get rid of this issue.”
On the other hand, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, affiliated with Hamas, reported an increase in the death toll in the Gaza Strip to 30,228 people on Friday, the 147th day of the war, in addition to 71,377 injuries. The United Nations warned again that famine in the Gaza Strip “has become almost inevitable unless something changes,” with official statistics showing that dozens of children have died of starvation.