Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has said he has rejected Hamas’ prisoner swap proposal and added that Israel will continue the war on all fronts and sectors.
In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said that they have brought back 110 prisoners so far and that they are determined to bring back all of them, rejecting Hamas’ surrender conditions.
Netanyahu stated that in exchange for the release of the prisoners, Hamas demands an end to the war and the departure of Israeli forces from Gaza, arguing that if they accept this, “soldiers would have died in vain, the security of citizens will not be guaranteed and another October 7 will be a matter of time.”
“We are waging the war on all fronts and sectors. We are not giving immunity to any terrorist. Not in Gaza, not in Lebanon, not in Syria, not anywhere else. Whoever tries to harm us, we will harm them” said Netenyahu.
Meanwhile the Palestinian resistance group Hamas has said its October 7 attacks in southern Israel were a ‘necessary step’ against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
It was “a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people,” the group said in the report.
The 16-page report document was the group’s first public report released in English and Arabic on Sunday explaining the background to the attack, when the group broke through Gaza’s militarised border.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed into Israel by land, air and sea.
The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, Israeli officials say.
During the attack, the gunmen seized around 250 hostages, according to the latest Israeli figures.
Israeli officials say around 132 captives remain in Gaza, of whom at least 27 are believed to have been killed.
“If there was any case of targeting civilians it happened accidentally and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces,” Hamas said in the report adding that many Israelis were killed by the Israeli army and police due to their confusion.