The Palestinian group claims to have informed intermediaries of its plan to release certain foreigners held captive in Gaza.
The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas announced that it would release some foreign hostages from Gaza in the coming days, without giving further details.
Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida announced the decision in a video speech on Tuesday, in which he also promised to turn Gaza into a “graveyard” and a “quagmire” for Israeli forces amid ground operations. increased.
“We have informed the intermediaries that we will release a number of foreigners in the coming days,” Obeida said.
More than 230 people, including Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as foreigners from numerous countries, were captured by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 that authorities said Israeli forces, killed more than 1,400 people, most of them. they are civilians.
Israel, human rights groups and the United Nations have called for the immediate release of the hostages, and those whose loved ones are being held captive have called on the Israeli government to secure their release.
“Hamas and Islamic Jihad are committing war crimes by holding dozens of Israelis and others hostage in Gaza,” the human rights organization Human Rights Watch said in an earlier statement. “No grievance can justify taking anyone hostage,” he adds.
Five hostages have been released so far, most following diplomatic negotiations with the help of countries including Qatar and Egypt, and one after a ground raid by Israeli forces inside Gaza. .
On Tuesday, Israeli families of those killed on October 7 asked the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose jurisdiction Israel does not recognize, to investigate the killings and kidnappings.
Tel Aviv-based international lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman, representing the families of more than 34 victims, filed an “Article 15 communication” with the ICC, urging ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, to focus the ongoing investigation into alleged crimes within its jurisdiction on the Hamas attack. .
Reuters confirmed that the ICC prosecutor’s office had received the file and was evaluating the request.
Israel is not a party to the ICC, whose jurisdiction it has refused to recognize. Palestinian authorities joined the Court in 2015 and were granted UN observer state status, allowing the ICC to open a continuing investigation into alleged crimes committed in Palestinian territory and by Palestinians in Israeli territory. .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this decision a “perversion of justice”.
During a visit to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza this weekend, Khan said obstructing aid access to Gaza could constitute a crime under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
He also said he tried to enter Gaza and Israel to meet the victims’ families, but was unable to do so.
