Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government was debating expanding military operations in Gaza, of sacrificing the Israeli hostages held there.
“Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda,” Hamas said in a statement.
The statement was issued as Netanyahu was convening his security cabinet to vote on an expansion of the military campaign in Gaza. Israeli media said it could entail a full military occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Earlier on Thursday, US network Fox News aired an interview with Netanyahu in which he said that Israel intends to take control of all of the Gaza Strip but not “keep it” or “govern it.”
“In response to the remarks made by war criminal… Benjamin Netanyahu, in his interview with Fox News… What he is planning is a continuation of a policy of genocide and forced displacement, through the perpetration of further crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said.
The group, whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the war, accused Netanyahu of “backtracking on the negotiation track”.
Indirect talks with Hamas seeking a truce and hostage release deal broke down in late July.
During Hamas’s 2023 attack on southern Israel, militants seized 251 hostages. Forty-nine of them are still held in Gaza, including 27, the Israeli military says, who are dead.
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