Gaza captive offered release dies amid Israeli stalling: Abu Hamza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
22 Nov 2023 00:37
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This comes as Al-Quds Brigades announced its readiness earlier to release Hanna Katsir on humanitarian and health grounds.

The military spokesman for al-Quds Brigades Abu Hamza appears in a televised speech during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Thursday, November 9, 2023 (Screengrab)

Abu Hamza, the spokesperson for al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, announced the death of an Israeli captive, Hanna Katsir, held by the Resistance group, asserting that the delay tactics of the Israeli occupation were the cause of her death.

In a statement released through his official channel on Telegram, Abu Hamza announced her death, stressing that the entity bears full responsibility for this incident.

He further stressed that the Israeli occupation is responsible for the lives of Israeli captives, especially in light of "the brutal and relentless bombing on every inch of the Gaza Strip."

الناطق العسكري باسم سرايا القدس أبو حمزة| وفاة المستوطنة "حنا كتسير" حصل بعد مماطلة العدو في ترتيب إطلاق سراحها ما أدى إلى فقدان حياتها، ونجدد تأكيدنا على إخلاء مسؤوليتنا تجاه أسرى العدو لدينا في ظل القصف الهمجي والمسعور على كل شبر في #غزة #الميادين #فلسطين #طوفان_الأقصى pic.twitter.com/YxtMqgwn35
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) November 21, 2023

Earlier this month, al-Quds Brigades expressed its willingness to release Katsir and another captive, Yagil Yaqoub, on humanitarian and health grounds, but the entity disregarded the offer.

“We are facing a global war whose goal is to annihilate the #Palestinian people, and the enemy is targeting everything, even its own captives. We declare our readiness to release Mrs. Hanna Katsir on humanitarian and health grounds.”

- Al-Quds Brigades military spokesperson, Abu… https://t.co/RkOQTipN22
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 9, 2023

Katsir even gave a recorded statement holding Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the captives' lives.

"I believe that the person responsible for all of this mess and everything bad that has happened to us is Bibi Netanyahu," Hanna Katsir, the Israeli captive held by the #Palestinian Resistance in #Gaza, stated while pointing out that she was treated very well by the P-I-J… pic.twitter.com/1dgt7nxYZd
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 9, 2023

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, had revealed earlier that the movement holds more than 30 captives.

The families of Israeli captives have doubled down efforts to exert pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to make a prisoner exchange deal, previously set forth by the Resistance, and avoid endangering the lives of captives amid Israeli airstrikes and the ground invasion of the Strip.

After al-Quds Brigades expressed the movement's readiness to release the two Israeli captives earlier in November, the spokesperson of al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida revealed in a statement that the Resistance was on the verge of releasing 12 captives with foreign nationalities but the effort was obstructed by "Israel".