Hamdan: 45% of martyrs in southern Gaza are displaced people

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
17 Dec 2023 01:21

Hamas Politburo member Osama Hamdan confirms, on the 71st day of the war, that 'Israel', which declared its war to liberate the prisoners, is killing them.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan in an address as reported by Al Mayadeen on Saturday, December 12, 2023. (Al Mayadeen/TV)

Hamas Politburo member Osama Hamdan confirmed that the Israeli occupation's aggression against the Gaza Strip did not achieve its goals despite the 71 days of war and massacres pointing out that the occupation army "is moving from one failure to another in Gaza."

Hamdan stressed, during a press conference on Saturday, that "Hamas has no confidence" in the administration of US President Joe Biden, which the movement considered "a partner with the Israeli occupation in the massacres."

Hamdan confirmed that 45% of the martyrs in southern Gaza "were displaced people, which belies the occupation’s claims regarding the existence of safe areas." He touched on the occupation's aggression against Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip and said that it "represents a new massacre."

Moreover, Hamdan confirmed that the occupation's direct targeting of journalist crews is a form of "Zionist terrorism" aimed at concealing the truth of Israeli crimes and massacres. The Hamas official stressed this plot will not succeed.

Hamdan also emphasized that "the Nazi army, which declared its war to liberate the prisoners, is the one that is killing its prisoners," and that "its continued violations will not give it legitimacy in our land[Palestine]."

Earlier, the military spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, Abu Obeida, said that the Israeli occupation deliberately executed three Israeli captives in Gaza yesterday.

Abu Obeida noted that "the occupation is still gambling with the lives of its captured soldiers, not caring about the feelings of their families, and yesterday it deliberately executed three of them."

Israeli captives shot by IOF were carrying white flags: Israeli forces

According to an Israeli occupation official on Saturday, the three Israeli captives killed by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) were shot even though one cried for help speaking Hebrew.

An initial inquiry, as cited by an IOF official, showed that the three Israeli captives killed "mistakenly" in Gaza by the IOF were also holding up a white flag.

In a virtual briefing to the media, an Israeli officer who asked to remain anonymous presented the findings of an ongoing preliminary inquiry into their deaths.

He explained that settlers Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, both captured from Kibbutz "Kfar Aza" and Samer el-Talalqa, who was taken from Kibbutz "Nir Am" reportedly "emerged tens of meters from one of our forces' positions", and explained, "They're all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it."

According to him, an IOF member then "felt threatened" and shot at the captives.

"He declares that they're terrorists. They (soldiers) open fire. Two are killed immediately, and one is injured and runs back into the building."

Most shocking is the fact that one IOF member recalled hearing one captive "cry for help... in Hebrew".

"Immediately, the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order. But again, there's another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies," the official detailed.

According to the official, the three captives exited from a building near IOF positions. They were shirtless and holding a white flag.

The occupation official excused the behavior of the IOF despite admitting that it goes "against our rules of engagement," citing that they had been under "intense pressure," and fearful of being ambushed by the Palestinian resistance.