Palestinian Islamic Jihad still has 7 of over 30 hostages it says it seized on Oct. 7, and most of its arsenal – report

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group is still holding seven Israeli hostages it captured on October 7, the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reports.

On October 8, PIJ leader Ziyad Nakhaleh released a statement claiming that the group was holding more than 30 of the 251 hostages abducted into Gaza during the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel the previous day.

Some of them were released during a one-week truce in November, the paper notes. It is not clear if any of the hostages in the hands of the PIJ have died.

The news outlet further reports that cooperation between Hamas and the PIJ has strengthened following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank, as testified to by the failed suicide bombing by a Nablus resident in Tel Aviv on Sunday, for which the two terror groups claimed joint responsibility.

While the Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the PIJ, has lost a significant part of its manpower on the ground in Gaza (the upper echelons of the group are said to be safe abroad), its arsenal has suffered fewer losses than that of Hamas in the ongoing war, the report claims, quoting sources from inside the terror group.

The good state of its military stockpiles allows it to regularly launch rockets at Israel, the paper says. The latest was a volley it claimed against the southern cities of Ashkelon and Sderot on August 6, but the group also launches rockets at IDF forces inside the Strip on an almost daily basis.

The volleys are usually small, consisting of a maximum of three projectiles, and unlike Hamas it is still capable of firing from throughout the Strip, including Gaza City and the north, according to the report.

Most of the projectiles in the PIJ arsenal are reportedly short-range, with a maximum firing distance of 7-8 kilometers (4.3-5 miles).

Source » msn.com