The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says Israel has refused to receive two more captives the movement had decided to release on solely humanitarian grounds.
Speaking on Saturday, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a brief statement that the movement had informed Qatar that it intended to release two more female captives “for compelling humanitarian reasons and without compensation,” the Palestinian Information Center reported.
“However, the occupation regime refused to receive them,” the spokesman added, identifying the captives as Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifshitz.
Abu Ubaida had previously said that the number of Israelis who have been captured during Operation al-Aqsa Storm, which started on October 7, is around 250. He noted that 200 of those captives were held by al-Qassam Brigades, while the rest were kept by other Palestinian resistance factions.