Hamas says Netanyahu prefers own interests to Israeli soldiers’ lives

Abu Obeida, spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, made the remarks in a short statement on Saturday.

The regime is pressing on with a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is headquartered. It launched the war last October in response to a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups, during which around 250 Zionists were taken captive.

Abu Obeida said the Israeli military was “throwing [the regime’s] soldiers into the alleys of Gaza to return in coffins” in an effort to find the remains of the captives, whom the military has “deliberately targeted and killed.”

“Netanyahu would rather have his soldiers killed while searching for remains than go for a prisoner exchange that does not serve his political and personal interests,” the spokesman added.

On Thursday, Hamas announced the Israeli regime’s bombing of the Gaza Strip had killed 70 percent of the Zionist captives.

“The Zionist enemy wants to recover the remaining captives by force, killing them by bombing,” Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, stated in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Manar television network.

Hamas released 105 of the captives during a week-long truce in late November.

The group recently agreed to another truce proposal tabled by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, but the regime rejected the proposal.

The Israeli war has so far claimed the lives of more than 35,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children.