Hamas says guard who killed Israeli hostage acted ‘in revenge’ against group’s instructions

A Hamas guard who killed an Israeli hostage acted “in revenge” and against instructions after he heard news that his two children had been killed in an Israeli strike, a spokesperson for the group’s armed wing said on Thursday.

“The (Hamas) soldier assigned as a guard acted in a retaliatory manner, against instructions, after he received information that his two children were martyred in one of the massacres conducted by the enemy,” Abu Ubaida said on Telegram.

“The incident doesn’t represent our ethics and the instructions of our religion in dealing with captives. We will reinforce the instructions,” he added.

In a later message on its official Telegram channel, the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, posted: “Your brutality is an imminent danger to your prisoners.”

On Monday, when Hamas first released information about the incident, the Israeli military said it could not corroborate or refute Hamas’ account.

But on Thursday, the military said that the man whose body is shown in the photo released by Hamas was a hostage who had been murdered and whose body had already been recovered by the Israeli military in November.

Abu Ubaida didn’t say when the incident happened. The timing of Hamas’ revelation could be an attempt to increase pressure on Israel ahead of ceasefire talks in Doha.

Envoys from the United States, Israel, Qatar, and Egypt were meeting in Doha on Thursday in an effort to reach a ceasefire deal that could see the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza in return for the freedom of many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Source » msn.com