US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said yesterday, Thursday, that his country is working to release Israeli and “American” prisoners held by the Hamas movement, stressing his confidence in the presence of a command center and tunnels for the movement under the Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken’s statements come two days after Israeli occupation soldiers stormed the Shifa Medical Complex and assaulted patients and medical staff under the pretext of searching for a Hamas command center under the complex.
Blinken said that they have been working “intensively” since day one to try to release American and Israeli detainees held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza.
Blinken explained to ABC that he could not provide details about negotiations to return the detainees, adding, “But I am optimistic that we are able to return them.”
He pointed out that he was “confident that there are tunnels and a command center under the Shifa complex in Gaza.”
The future of Gaza
Blinken said that Gaza must be under Palestinian rule in the future, and security must be provided there as well, stressing, “We were very clear that Israel cannot reoccupy Gaza.”
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Blinken spoke by phone with Israeli Emergency Government Minister Benny Gantz and they discussed “efforts aimed at increasing and accelerating the passage of essential humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Blinken stressed “the urgent need to take positive steps to reduce tension in the West Bank, including by confronting the increasing level of extremist settler violence.”
Since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the occupation forces have intensified their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem, launching daily raids and arrest campaigns.
Flood and aggression
It is noteworthy that Israel was established on Arab land occupied in 1948 and annexed Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967. Throughout its 75 years, it has continued to kill and arrest Palestinians, expand settlement activity in the West Bank, launch military operations in Gaza, and attack Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem.
On October 7, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and other Palestinian resistance factions launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli occupation, and have so far killed more than 1,200 Israelis.
The Palestinian resistance also captured more than 200 Israelis, and announced that it wanted to exchange them for more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.
On the other hand, Israel continues its aggression against the Gaza Strip, bombing homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques, which led to the martyrdom of more than 11,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in addition to the injury of more than 30,000, the destruction of the health sector, various vital facilities, and entire neighborhoods, and the displacement and starvation of the population.
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2023-11-17 06:04:28
