Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 7, 2023
From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Hamas: Number of Israeli hostages in Gaza much higher than Netanyahu thinks
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Palestinians ride on an Israeli military vehicle taken by an army base inside Israel overrun by Hamas, in Gaza City, October 7, 2023. (AP/Abed Abu Reash)
In a statement to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV, the terror group’s military spokesman Abu Ubaida claims that the number of hostages taken into Gaza is “many times greater than what Netanyahu thinks,” and that they are being held in various locations throughout the coastal strip.
The spokesman also urges Israel not to make “miscalculations,” adding that “whatever happens to the people of the Gaza Strip, will happen to [the hostages].”
Israel is now facing a deep crisis after witnessing the heroism of Hamas militants, Abu Ubaida says, adding that Israeli soldiers fell before them “like locusts.”
He vows that Hamas will continue the ongoing operation on all fronts.
