Hamas' armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, has released two U.S. hostages from Gaza - a mother and her daughter - "for humanitarian reasons" in response to Qatari mediation efforts in the war with Israel, its spokesman Abu Ubaida said on Friday.

GAZA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, has released two U.S. hostages from Gaza - a mother and her daughter - “for humanitarian reasons” in response to Qatari mediation efforts in the war with Israel, its spokesman Abu Ubaida said on Friday.

Hamas says it took about 200 hostages during a deadly Oct. 7 rampage carried out from the Gaza Strip on communities and military bases in southern Israel, part of the biggest attack on the country since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Hamas said 50 more are held by other armed groups in the enclave. It said more than 20 hostages have been killed by Israeli air strikes, but has not given any further details.

Abu Ubaida said they released the citizens “for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by (President Joe) Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless.”

  • Number1SummerJam@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1916·
    2 years ago

    I feel like Israel is crossing the line at this point. They have a right to retaliate against Hamas, but they’ve already bombarded half of Gaza, and killed lots of fighters and civilians on top of that. The only reason they’re going to invade is that it’s a very opportune time for them to finally annex the strip of land they’ve had their eyes on for a long time. Both armies are being despicable, and I feel for anyone caught up in this who has nothing to do with the drama.

        • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          93·
          2 years ago

          These guys should go watch war videos from aHR0cHM6Ly90aGV5bmMuY29t (base64 encoded link, very NSFW. Visit with caution.). Sure Israelis do some bad shit. But after you see Hamas soldiers forcing a teenage kids to help them killing yet another civilians, raiding civilian houses and shooting up the place, playing hide-and-seek with vulnerable women and child hiding behind a car, shooting at running away elders, I don’t think any reasonable person would ever support Hamas for their action.

      • NewDark@lemmings.worldEnglish
        34·
        2 years ago

        Almost like they wanted Israelis out of their soon to be open air prison. And if you want to turn a blind eye to all the previous land grabs before this one, sure.

    • anteaters@feddit.deEnglish
      138·
      2 years ago

      This isn’t about killing people for revenge but the destruction of Hamas. That is now the goal and Israel will take every measure it needs to achieve that.

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
      1214·
      2 years ago

      Israel didn’t cross a line this time, they crossed it long ago. You should look up the history, this is hardly new.

      Israel has been terrorising Gaza for almost a century with the same behaviour you see now.