Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it “will not respond” after Hamas claimed to have offered to release two hostages but was rejected by Israel.
The spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida, said earlier today that the terror group informed Qatar yesterday that they would release two hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but that Israel refused to accept them.
Abu Obeida named the two hostages, saying they would have been released for “humanitarian reasons.”
“We won’t respond to Hamas’s propaganda lies,” Netanyahu’s bureau says. “We will continue to do everything possible to return all the hostages and missing home.”
Israeli officials have accused Hamas of “psychological terror” by means of various statements and footage of some of the more than 200 hostages it holds in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Hamas released mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan.
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From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 21, 2023
