Hamas senior official Bassem Naim, one of many targets of Israel’s tried strike on high leaders in Doha, threatened Thursday that the IDF’s operation to take over Gaza Metropolis runs the danger of harming the hostages nonetheless held captive by the fear group.
“The operation in Gaza Metropolis might be met with fierce resistance, and the dying and destruction that the enemy tries to convey to Gaza’s streets will befall its troopers,” the Hamas politburo member stated in an interview with the Qatari outlet Al-Araby, in his first look since being focused within the September 9 strike.
“Those that hurt us throughout the operation in Gaza Metropolis may even hurt the hostages, residing and lifeless,” he warned.
Naim was focused alongside different Hamas leaders within the Qatari capital final week, as the fear group’s brass was stated to be assembly to debate a US-sponsored hostage-ceasefire proposal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the strike as a hit on the time, saying it might open the door for an instantaneous finish to the warfare. Hamas referred to as the strike a failure. No senior members of the fear group were confirmed killed within the assault, and Israeli officers more and more imagine it did not eradicate any senior member of the group.
Naim additional accused Israel of feigning curiosity in a hostage deal, saying “it misled everybody as if it was concerned in negotiations, to be able to cowl up its crimes.”
Kinfolk of hostages have railed in opposition to the IDF’s floor operation to take over Gaza Metropolis, warning an incursion into town might result in extra hostages’ deaths. There are 48 hostages held by terror teams in Gaza, of which some 20 are thought to nonetheless be alive.
Households of hostages held in Gaza and their supporters protest exterior Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal residence in Jerusalem, calling for his or her family members’ launch, September 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
For the reason that operation started in a single day Monday, a number of hostages’ households have staged nightly protests outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, accusing him of abandoning their family members.
Naim’s remarks echoed an announcement by Hamas’s navy wing issued Thursday, which included comparable threats relating to the hurt which will come to the hostages ought to the IDF’s operation proceed.
“Your hostages are dispersed inside neighborhoods in Gaza Metropolis and we received’t be obligated to safeguard their lives as long as Netanyahu has resolved to kill them,” learn the assertion. “The start of this legal operation and its growth signifies that you’ll not retrieve any hostage, residing or lifeless.”
“The destiny of all of the hostages might be just like the destiny of Ron Arad,” the navy wing continued, referring to the lacking Israeli airman who disappeared in southern Lebanon in 1986 and is presumed lifeless.
