The military wing of the Hamas movement, Al-Qassam Brigades, has stated that they had intended to release 12 foreign hostages, but were prevented from doing so by Israeli authorities. This news comes from RIA Novosti.
In their statement, the movement revealed that the occupation by Israel hindered the release of the hostages.
Previously, it was reported that a total of 1,400 foreigners were evacuated to Egyptian territory through the “Rafah” crossing from the Gaza Strip. According to Al-Youm as-Sabia, 329 individuals with foreign citizenship arrived in Egypt from Gaza the day before. Among the evacuated individuals were citizens of 60 Arab and other foreign states.
According to the publication Ynet, Hamas is still holding 138 foreign citizens captive.
Palestine has expressed optimism regarding the negotiations between Russia and the Palestinian radical group Hamas on the issue of hostages. The country’s ambassador to Russia, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, commented on the progress in the negotiations for the release of Russian captives, following the official spokesperson of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov’s statement.
Earlier, Blinken, during talks in Turkey, assessed the likelihood of a complete evacuation of Gaza residents.
