The Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted sources confirming that 4 of the 6 prisoners whose bodies were recovered this morning, Sunday, from the Gaza Strip were supposed to be released in the first stages of the expected exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The Authority quoted an official in the Israeli negotiating team as saying that it was possible to return the prisoners alive through an exchange deal in the first stages if it was completed, noting that the possibility of rescuing them has been lost.
This comes at a time when the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, broadcast a video message this evening in which it acknowledged that the prisoners who were killed were indeed alive and were supposed to be released as part of the first phase of the deal that has been under discussion for months to cease fire in Gaza and exchange prisoners.
Al-Qassam held Netanyahu responsible for the six prisoners, and said in a message addressed to the Israeli community that he “chose the Philadelphi corridor at the expense of liberating your prisoners,” and expressed his astonishment at considering the return of the prisoners as lifeless bodies a great achievement, and asked, “What kind of heroism is this? You are returning them after you killed them deliberately.”
This comes amid widespread Israeli criticism and calls for a strike, with anger rising against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government after the occupation army announced the discovery of the bodies of 6 detainees inside a tunnel in the Gaza Strip. Some of Netanyahu’s opponents went so far as to say that he “will delay the prisoner deal until everyone dies.”
