A senior Hamas leader has claimed that the civilian hostages in Gaza will be freed if Israel meets the right conditions.
Khaled Meshaal, one of the key negotiators of the terrorist organisation said that over 200 hostages held by the group could be released if Israel reduces the intensity of the bombing in Gaza.
‘Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes,’ he told Sky News.
He said hostage releases cannot happen while Israel’s air offensive remains so intense.
‘We want to stop the random bombardments, the total destruction, the genocide so that the al Qassam soldiers can take them from their places and hand them to the Red Cross or whoever.
‘We need the right conditions to allow them to be released.’
Meshaal repeated the claim that 22 hostages have died in Israeli airstrikes since being taken.
Hamas will not say which countries they are from but says many of the dead are Israelis.
He would also not be drawn on whether Hamas will stop hostage negotiations entirely if Israel presses ahead with a ground invasion of Gaza.
So far only two hostages have been released by Hamas.
Khaled Meshaal is a powerful figure within Hamas, revered as a living martyr after surviving an Israeli attempt to assassinate him almost three decades ago.
Israel responded to the Hamas massacre and hostage crisis by pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing more than 4,000 people according to Hamas, and has said it will act to free the hostages while wiping out the terror group.
Israeli tanks and troops are massed near the perimeter of the enclave for an expected ground invasion, calling on Palestinians to evacuate the north of Gaza, where it says Hamas is dug in.
Israel has also said that there will be no end to its full blockade of the enclave unless Israeli hostages are freed.
Hamas says it has some 200 hostages and that 50 more are held by other armed groups in the enclave.
The group claimed more than 20 hostages have been killed by Israeli air strikes, but has not given any further details.
