The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), broadcast a recording today, Thursday, of an Israeli prisoner who holds American citizenship. The occupation army had announced the recovery of his body and 5 other prisoners a few days ago inside a tunnel in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
US President Joe Biden expressed his sadness over the death of Hersh Goldberg Polin, who held American citizenship, and said, “The news of his death breaks my heart,” before threatening Hamas leaders with accountability and making them pay the price.
Last April, the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video recording of the prisoner Paulin, in which he attacked the Netanyahu government and accused it of negligence and failure to work to release him and the rest of the detainees.
On May 13, Qassam announced that it had lost contact with a group of resistance fighters guarding four Israeli prisoners in Gaza, including Hersh Goldberg Paulin, due to the Israeli bombing of the Strip.
Since last Monday, Al-Qassam began broadcasting the last messages of the six Israeli prisoners, starting with prisoner Idan Yerushalmi, then Ori Danino, before broadcasting – yesterday, Wednesday – a recording of prisoners Alexander Lubnov and Carmel Gat.
All the recordings held the Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, and the security and military services responsible for what happened on October 7, 2023, and all the prisoners demanded the necessity of speeding up the conclusion of an exchange deal and continuing the popular demonstrations demanding their return alive.
Last Sunday, Al-Qassam had broadcast a message to the Israeli society stating that “Netanyahu chose the Philadelphi Corridor at the expense of liberating your prisoners,” noting that these prisoners were alive but have become a thing of the past, and stressing that Netanyahu is creating dozens of Ron Arads.
On April 23, the spokesman for the Brigades, Abu Obeida, said that “the Ron Arad scenario may be the most likely to be repeated with the enemy’s prisoners in Gaza,” stressing that “the so-called military pressure will only push us to stand firm in our positions and preserve the rights of our people and not relinquish them.”