PNN – The Israeli army claimed that 25% of the remaining prisoners in Gaza have died, presenting statistics that may be underestimated.
According to Pakistan News Network, the Israeli army stated on Wednesday that about 25 percent of the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza have died.
However, the New York Times reported that this number may be even higher. The newspaper said that the number of prisoners whose death is confirmed is 32 people and possibly up to 50 people. This newspaper did not mention it due to the contradiction in the statistics.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement that Tel Aviv had informed the families of 31 prisoners that “their loved ones are no longer alive and we have confirmed their deaths.”
Hagari did not mention more details about the causes of death of these captives. In mid-December, the Israeli army admitted that it had mistakenly killed three prisoners in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, who is under pressure these days due to the non-fulfillment of the 2 declared war goals of Israel in Gaza, recently claimed in a meeting with the family members of the Israeli prisoners that Tel Aviv has a special initiative for the release of the prisoners. At the same time, he said that he would not explain more about this matter.
Israel has determined the release of prisoners from Gaza and the destruction of Hamas as its war goals in Gaza. Despite this, the realization of both of these goals has reached a dead end.
The New York Times newspaper recently reported that a number of senior commanders of the Israeli army have now come to the conclusion that achieving both goals at the same time is not possible and that any long-term plan to destroy Hamas will inevitably lead to the death of prisoners.
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In addition, many analysts have questioned the possibility of the complete destruction of Hamas even in occupied Palestine. “Gadi Eisenkot”, a former official of the Israeli army, who is currently a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, a few weeks ago described the promises of the Israeli authorities for the complete destruction of Hamas as “storytelling”.
Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of the Zionist regime, also wrote in a note in Haaretz newspaper a few days ago that Netanyahu himself knows that he is not able to eliminate Hamas.
Western analysts say that the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, has survived repeated attempts by the Israeli regime to eliminate itself since its inception. Military and political experts told The New York Times last month that the structure of the organization was designed to withstand plots to destroy it.
On October 7th, the Islamic resistance movement of Palestine, Hamas, in response to more than seven decades of occupation of Palestine and nearly two decades of siege of Gaza and imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians, started the operation known as “Al-Aqsa Storm”.
This operation was one of the deadliest attacks against this regime. Hamas fighters penetrated into the occupied territories through the border fences at several points, attacked the villages and besides killing a large number of Israelis, captured a number of them. Reports indicate that Hamas is currently holding 136 Israeli prisoners in Gaza.
In response to this operation, the Zionist regime launched heavy attacks against Gaza and put this area under complete siege. More than 27,000 Palestinians have been martyred in Israel’s attacks in Gaza so far, and tens of thousands more have been injured. Despite this, as analysts say, the al-Aqsa storm operation has imposed a major security-political defeat on Israel.
The mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the United States for the release of prisoners has not been successful so far. The Hamas movement said that negotiations for the exchange of prisoners will be possible only if the deadly attacks on Gaza end.
In the previous agreement between Hamas and the Israeli regime for the release of prisoners that was made in November, 81 Israelis and 24 foreign prisoners were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians.
Although Hamas has not yet commented on the Israeli army’s new statement about the death of prisoners, it usually blames the Israeli army for the death of these prisoners. In early November, Hamas announced that 60 prisoners were killed in Israeli ground operations in Gaza.